It’s a significant week for Chichester Festival Theatre, with two of its productions opening in the West End within days of each other. While The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry arrives newly minted, Shadowlands has walked a longer path to London after premiering in Chichester in 2019.
Now at the Aldwych Theatre, William Nicholson’s affecting drama returns with Hugh Bonneville reprising his role as C S Lewis and Maggie Siff joining the company as Joy Davidman. The result is a thoughtful and often moving evening that balances intellect, humour and heartbreak, even if its emotional impact is slightly softened by an occasionally over eager approach to comedy.
Nicholson’s play might feel like an anomaly in a West End landscape dominated by stage adaptations of films. Here the lineage is reversed. Shadowlands began as a television drama, became a play, then a film starring Anthony Hopkins and Debra Winger, all in turn inspired by Lewis’s own semi autobiographical writings. This evolution seems fitting for a story so concerned with the nature of narrative and how we make sense of life through the stories we tell.
Rachel Kavanaugh’s production is both elegant and evocative, helped enormously by Peter McKintosh’s design. Towering bookshelves frame the stage, with a starkly empty central shelf that becomes an eloquent metaphor for Lewis as a contented bachelor who does not yet realise what is missing from his life. It is a visually striking touch that gently underscores the play’s themes without overwhelming them.
Bonneville is excellent as Lewis, delivering a performance rich in dry wit and emotional restraint. His clipped, straight to the point delivery frequently elicits laughter, making him unexpectedly warm and accessible. This restraint also makes the later moments of grief all the more affecting, as Bonneville allows those carefully maintained defences to falter.
Opposite him, Maggie Siff is a compelling Joy Davidman. She captures the brash articulacy of the loud New Yorker while gradually revealing the fragility beneath. Her transformation from confident outsider to a woman facing immense vulnerability feels remarkably truthful, full of will, passion and unmistakable humanity.
Among the supporting cast, Jeff Rawle brings gentle charm as Warnie, particularly in scenes with the young actor playing Douglas (Ayrton English at this performance), which are among the production’s most touching. Tony Jayawardena and Timothy Watson also offer well etched performances that add texture to Lewis’s academic world.
Shadowlands first act moves at a careful, sometimes overly deliberate pace. At points it risks losing the audience’s attention with its measured rhythm. Yet the second act is far more gripping. Scenes shift with greater urgency, the emotional stakes sharpen and the storytelling becomes more compelling. If anything, the production leans into its comedic beats a little too eagerly, reducing some of the emotional intensity that made the film version such a tear-jerker. Even so, the central relationship still shines through with clarity and tenderness.
This Shadowlands is a thoughtful revival, beautifully performed. It may not always land its emotional punches with full force, but it remains a powerful exploration of love, loss and the cost of learning how to truly live.
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