A World Premiere Play Written and Directed by Dean Batali Produced by Marc WHitmore, Lori Berg, & Rob Loos
Set in Oxford, England in the autumn of 1963 at the famous “Rabbit Room” of the Eagle and Child Pub, this play is something of a return to the familiar for C.S. Lewis (author of The Chronicles of Narnia) and J.R.R. Tolkien (who wrote The Lord of the Rings). Filled with humor, rousing debate, and reconciliation, the two men learn the true value of their friendship with a little help from a few pints of beer and the energetically curious barmaid, Veronica. October 27 - December 3, 2023 Crossley Theatre Fridays & Saturdays 7:30 pm, Sundays 2:30 pm Saturday matinees November 4, November 25, & December 2 @ 2:30 pm There will be no performance on Friday, November 24
For those would like to read reviews, below are links two favorable reviews I had seen a couple weeks ago. The substance of the play aside (I have not seen it), I think there are problems with the premise of it, as described by the writer/director, i.e. that "these two men – who had once been very close and extremely influential towards each other’s work – had drifted far apart..." During the period the play is set (just before Lewis's death), Tolkien’s son John said he drove his father to Lewis’s house weekly to visit him, and Walter Hooper similarly reported that Tolkien came to see Lewis “several times” during this period. So I don't think it's quite fair to present them as being estranged friends reconnecting. While they understandably were no longer as close after Lewis left for Cambridge, by all accounts it appears that they remained good friends, and that perhaps their friendship strengthened at the very end of Lewis's life in comparison to the immediately preceding years. Which isn't to say that the play itself can't be good - it just seems to be a conversation between the two, and if done right would likely be pretty enjoyable.
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