Without C.S. Lewis, there would be no Lord of the Rings, and without Tolkien, The Chronicles of Narnia—such was the influence that the two English professors had on one another during their lifetimes and through their friendships.
Although by the later stages of their lives, that friendship had dwindled and the once frequent Beowulf and Beer sessions at the Eagle and Child Pub at Oxford had ended.
But in the Canadian premiere of Lewis and Tolkien, Fire Exit Theatre and Hit and Myth Productions are imagining what if the two literary titans had met as friends one last time.
“There was a huge rift that occurred between the two men. The play attempts to deal with what would have happened, this proposal, if you will, what happened if they would have got together in the pub where they used to meet as members of their writers group in Oxford, England. What would have happened if they would actually just talked it out, or tried to talk it out what had gone wrong with their relationship,” said Joel Cochrane, Hit and Myth Production’s Artistic Producer and the actor playing C.S. Lewis in the play.
That the differences around religion and belief are so topical for our own times, and our own friendships, said Cochrane, was a perfect reason to put on the play.
“Here’s two guys with pretty polarizing belief systems or pretty polarizing ideas. How do you retain a friendship? How do you retain love? How do you talk to each other and continue to talk to each other?” he said.
“The other reason to put on a play like this is it’s a good play. It’s a really good play with some good dramatic moments in it, with lots of fun and laughter, and it’s entertaining, right? It’s good theatre. But there’s no question that the bigger picture is super prescient to right now.”
That essence of losing the ability to connect with one another was one of the reasons why Lewis and Tolkien is an important work to stage said Val Lieske, Fire Exit Theatre’s Executive Artistic Director.
“We are losing the ability to truly live in community, to see and be seen, and to disagree deeply while maintaining respect for each other. The story of these two men who laughed and fought and encouraged and critiqued and loved each other imperfectly could not be more relevant for today. May they inspire us to dare to debate fiercely over our beliefs all the while enjoying a pint and each other’s company.”
Set in 1963, Lewis and Tolkien is set at a stage in their lives where Tolkien had become estranged from his friend, as he perceived in Lewis anti-Catholic sentiments and disapproved of his marriage to divorced American poet and writer Joy Davidson.
For his part, Lewis was embittered by the response of Tolkien to his work, The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe.
On the death of Lewis, Tolkien wrote in a letter “This feels like an axe-blow near the roots. Very sad that we should have been so separated in the last years: but our time of close communion endured in memory for both of us.”
But what if things had been different?
“If you are a fantasy nerd, you’re gonna love this, because they actually talk a fair bit about Narnia. They talk about a fair bit about the Lord of the Rings and sort of the creation, or the genesis of the various worlds… of Middle Earth, the creation of Narnia and so on. There’s a lot that actually the play does revolve a lot around their actual artists, their greatest artistic achievements,” said Cochrane.
“They were these extraordinary wordsmiths and extraordinary poets and extraordinary artists. They were really good at what they did, and so you get a glimpse into that, in a big way.”
Lewis and Tolkien runs at the Engineered Air Theatre at the Werklund Centre (formerly Arts Commons) from Oct. 15 through 26. Tickets are available now at www.fireexit.ca.
