Theatre Review

Theatre Review : Screwtape
by C.S.Lewis
Seojin LEE, college of medicine, 2022-12513
Screwtape is a play originated by a British writer and theologist, C.S. Lewis. It is

originally a christian apologetic novel, dramatized as a play by Woojin Roh. The
play uses a cynical and ironical approach about sincere religious life – the
Demons play the main role and discuss how to tempt the protagonist. Therefore
the play paradoxically demonstrates the true form of religious life. As a
non-religious person, there were not many opportunities for me to learn what
religious life means in the life of Christians. I couldn't relate to everything, but I
was able to understand what life Christians pursue.
The original novel takes a form of a series of letters written by the demon,
Screwtape, to coach his novice nephew. In the play, the original demon is divided
into three characters. They cooperate, argue, and even fight to seek a way to
seduce the protagonist and free him from God's will, and writes their common
agreement to their nephew in a form of a letter.
The play sets place in a room designed like an office. Without any signal of
opening, the demons appear from the auditorium, asking each other if the session
has started. The scene stands out thanks to the actors' excellent acting. The
demons in decent suits and appearing from ordinary people conveys the lesson
that the devil is not the ugly being that appears in the media, but the evil itself
that exists in everyday life. Personally, it was the most memorable scene in the
play.
The play unfolds like original novel. The three demons tell their novice nephew
demon how to corrupt humans. The demons make the main character, Wormwood,
to be indifferent and passive. They emphasize that human indifference is their
prey. They eventually tell their nephew to manipulate the weakness of the human
being; selfishness, helplessness, pride, and corrupted church. Later on, they use
elements such as sex, love, greed, and war to block Wormwood from God's
salvation.
However, despite the demons' interference, Wormwood gains true faith and love.
The demons finally make him fight in war to send him into hell, but their plan
eventually fail when he does not lose his faith until he dies in battlefield.
Wormwood gains God’s salvation at the moment his death.
Since Lewis was a scholar who thought deeply about theology, the topics the play
deals with are not the common morals. First, the central theme is the contrast
between God, who makes humans contemplate about their life and follows the path
to salvation, and the demons, who take away the ability to think deeply and hinder
humans from understanding the meaning of life. In addition, the writer reflects his
thoughts about the human nature; the weakness – not only the sins mentioned in
the bible but also frivolity, vanity and indifference – and the strengths – love,
faith, and courage to deal with crises.
It was the directing that made this philosophical novel to be enjoyable. The play
reconstructs the contents of the letters from the original novel to a modern
manner. As mentioned earlier, the demons act in a familiar setting such as an
office. Instead of writing a letter, the play uses a video message with a camcorder.
The play also uses music in an effective way; playing ironic music between scenes
to emphasize the paradoxical feature of the play, and sacred music in the final
scene where the main character is saved by God, which effectively conveys the
religious theme.
But what stood out most about the play was the acting. The remarkably attractive
performances of the three demons are both the entertaining point and the key
element that makes the play plausible. Their ordinary and rather nice outfits and
manners show that humans are prone to the devil's everyday temptation. The
demons' intense lines and compelling gestures create a strong tension. Even
though Screwtape is a play without changes in the background, it keeps the
dynamic throughout the play. At the beginning, they make the audience laugh
using ironic jokes, and at the climax they poignantly show their demonic
attributes. And in the final scene where they are defeated by God, the devil's
scream demonstrates the victory of good.
The play was effectively adapted to convey Christian morals, but that made the
play not very understandable for non-Christians. For example, I couldn’t actually
relate to the ironic jokes used to depict manneristic churches. Also the conclusion
that war can sometimes save people was also difficult to understand. War is an
evil thing as the three demons use war to make Wormwood fall in hell, while God
saved him through death in the war which felt somewhat contradictory. I think it
would have been easier to understand the play if I had known the meaning of
suffering in Christianity. However, the play faithfully conveys what was intended,
and it was produced in accordance with the format of the play while preserving
the content of the original work. In that sense, I think Screwtape is a great play
filled with religious intent.

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Theatre Review : Screwtape

Seojin LEE, college of medicine, 2022-12513

Screwtape is a play originated by a British writer and theologist, C.S. Lewis. It is

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