If Tyler Boe had to create his very own imaginary world, it would be a land of eternal summers.
Somewhere warm and balmy with a great forest to explore, a Narnia, albeit much sunnier.
“There would be lots of trees to climb and caves and waffles,” says Boe, who plays Edmund Pevensie in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe which opens in Port Moody this weekend.
The Emerald Pig Theatrical Society dramatization of C.S. Lewis’ classic recreates the magic and mystery of Aslan, the great lion, his struggle with the White Witch, and the adventures of four Pevensie children who inadvertently wander from an old wardrobe into never-to-be-forgotten Narnia.
“It’s pretty fun and interesting,” Boe says as he explains the intricacy of Narnia, a land of talking animals and where it is always winter, but never Christmas.
As Edmund, 12-year-old Boe succumbs to the temptation of the evil White Witch and turns into a boy his siblings barely recognize.
There are chases, duels and escapes as the witch is determined to keep Narnia in her possession and to end the reign of Aslan.
Boe enjoys the duality of his role – he gets to have an adventure and be a little nasty at the same time.
“It can be quite fun to be mean, but it’s only good when you are acting,” he says.
Caitlyn Bossons can relate to the precocious, curious Lucy, although she isn’t as inclined to venture into large wardrobes.
“I just love the adventure,” says Bossons, 11, who studies at Whonnock elementary.
Playing eight-year-old Lucy was a little hard at first as Bossons had to act much younger.
“But at practice, we do it over and over again,” she says.
Seeing the rest of the cast in costume also helped Bossons believe she was conversing with a real-life faun.
“I actually love being on stage,” says Bossons. “It makes me less scared when I’m in front of lots of people instead of a couple of people.”
Wrangling a cast of 27, mostly comprised of children, has been taxing, Kathleen Hatley admits.
“There have been days when I come home drained,” Hatley says with a laugh.
Luckily, she’s sharing director duties with Simon Challenger, who seconds her vision of transporting the audience into a magical, mysterious world, complete with a cast of pint-sized forest animals and a nine-foot-tall wardrobe.
There’s also a unicorn, a centaur, Father Christmas, Mr. and Mrs. Beaver and Tumnus the Faun.
A show is all about team work, says Hatley, who would not be able to recreate Narnia without a talented backstage crew, as well as a brilliant costume department.
“We’ve got eight forest animals who are too cute for words,” she exclaims.
As she read the play, Hatley couldn’t help being mesmerized by the journey of the Pevensie children and the myriad themes that abound in their story.
The wardrobe serves as a bridge between the two worlds while the children’s experiences in Narnia communicate courage, honesty, kindness, reconciliation, forgiveness, and friendship. The eventual demise of the White Witch reminds everyone that good will triumph over evil.
“Are these children with vivid imagination or is this really happening?” wonders Hatley.
“Is it just their imagination or is there a Narnia? We don’t know.”
Showtime
The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe plays The Inlet Theatre in Port Moody Nov. 29 at 7 p.m.; Nov. 30 at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. The Emerald Pig production plays the ACT in Maple Ridge Dec. 5 and Dec. 6 at 7 p.m. and Dec. 7 at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. For tickets, visit emeraldpig.ca or call 604-476-1984.