Lauren Crisp is a book editor, writer and keen follower of arts and culture. She reviews theatre and cultural events in and around the district in her spare time.

You can contact Lauren on laurencrispwriter@gmail.com.

C.S. Lewis’ The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe has enchanted readers for almost 75 years; many a young mind has ventured through the eponymous wardrobe, emerging from a sumptuous forest of fur coats into the magical, sparkling world of Narnia.

So, it was with a child-like excitement that I anticipated Leeds Playhouse’s festive run of the classic tale. What I hadn’t expected was that this adventure through the wardrobe would be my most memorable one yet.

The play opens to the chaos of Blitz Britain and a rousing yet bittersweet rendition of We’ll Meet Again. Four siblings – Lucy (Kudzai Mangombe), Susan (Joanna Adaran), Peter (Jesse Dunbar) and Edmund (Bunmi Osadolor in an excellent debut) – board a train along with countless other evacuees to escape the bombs.

Arriving at the home of an eccentric professor (a brilliantly offbeat Kraig Thornber), the children soon discover that a very ordinary looking wardrobe is in fact a portal to a fantastical land. 

Young adults play the children, so often an error of casting, but not so here: their performances, all equally strong, are imbued with just the necessary innocence, pluck and naïve courage of youth.

Alfie Richards (who hails from Harrogate) is a beautifully understated Mr Tumnus, and I loved Mr and Mrs Beaver (Ed Thorpe and Anya de Villiers), who act as the children’s guides, adding extra cosiness and comic relief.

 Katy Stephens’ White Witch is spot-on: sumptuously dark, surrounded by her suitably sinister minions, who mewl and prowl and scuttle about the stage.

Aslan’s reveal is as magnificent as hoped, his character depicted in a twofold way: as both a glorious, enormous puppet, controlled by three puppeteers, and a fur-laden, wild-haired actor (Stanton Wright).

Each as leonine as the other, the two coalesce into one majestic character. Puppetry is used elsewhere in the show, in various brilliant ways. 

Beyond the main characters is an immeasurably talented ensemble cast of actor-musicians, several playing at least two or three different roles. 

As a roaming folk band, they deliver the production’s wonderful melodic score. The play could not be defined as a musical, yet music is its life force, running through it like blood through veins, journeying to your heart.

And somehow, there’s even more to laud. Lighting by Jack Knowles is transformative: icy cracks of light break across the stage; huge spherical neon lights frame the stage like a portal.

Aerial work is used to magnificent effect. Costume is carefully thought out. Scenes and seasons appear to change as if by magic. And talking of magic, the show is filled with illusions: Turkish delight materialises out of nowhere, while characters disappear into thin air. 

Creativity feels boundless here, invention endless. There is so much going on at any one time and yet the production is perfectly seamless, the joins between scenes and worlds unbroken. 

It’s fluid and cinematic. The only downside is that it all seems to be over far too quickly. This is Narnia as I’ve never seen or imagined before, familiar, yet entirely fresh, like virgin snow.

Spellbinding and magnificent, this is everything you might hope for from a family Christmas show, and so much more. 

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe proves the endless possibilities of theatre and, quite simply, it’s perfect.

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is on at Leeds Playhouse until Saturday,January 25 2025.