Review: SHADOWLANDS, Aldwych Theatre
Photo credit: Johan Persson
A quiet, thoughtful slow-burn that rewards patience, and draws audiences in with questions about faith and love, and demonstrates the cost of opening your heart.
Shadowlands, currently playing at the Aldwych Theatre, explores the later life of renowned writer and academic C.S. Lewis. His carefully ordered world is disrupted when he forms an unexpected relationship with the outspoken, warm-hearted and much louder Joy Gresham. As friendship deepens into love, Lewis must confront profound questions about belief, pain, and what true love is, and whether it is worth suffering for.
Shadowlands opens in a striking and intelligent way, with Hugh Bonneville, who plays the lead of C.S Lewis, stepping on stage and immediately addressing the audience, posing reflective and unsettling questions about God, belief, and suffering. It is an abrupt, disarming, and impactful opening. From the outset, we are not deemed as passive observers, but are included. The tone is set immediately, signalling that this play will touch upon emotional and philosophical themes.
This is a dialogue-heavy play, light on music and burdened with conversation, highlighting relationships, family, friendship, and the slow, awkward unraveling of love. However, the first act struggles at times. Some conversations feel overly drawn out and quite dull. While the purpose is to build foundations, Act One could have benefited from tighter pacing. And initially, the central relationship between Bonneville and Maggie Siff, who pays Joy, isn’t fully convincible, making it hard to emotionally invest in their connection early on.
Visually, the constant backdrop of the library and towering bookshelves looms over the stage, representing intellect, knowledge, and restraint, as revealed through C.S Lewis.
The second act marks a noticeable shift. Momentum is stronger, dialogue sharpens, and you are more emotionally invested as a result. The chemistry between the leads also strengthens, and they begin to bounce off one another. The slow-burn approach is effective at this point.
Bonneville is undoubtedly the standout. Warm, likeable, and represents the reserved British gentleman. He excels at portraying a man who hides his feelings behind wit and intellect. Bonneville’s delivery is often understated and can be gently humorous, brightening scenes that might otherwise sag. He is given the best lines and knows exactly how to land them. His emotional outburst near the end is deeply affecting and moving, precisely because it contrasts so sharply with the restraint he maintains throughout the rest of the play. It’s a release that feels earned and genuinely moving.
A moving and thoughtful watch.
Shadowlands plays at London’s Aldwych Theatre until 9 May, with tickets available here.
