Shadowlands with Hugh Bonneville and Maggie Siff is a deeply moving and play about two of our most complex emotions, love and loss. Based on the true story of the relationship between British writer CS (Clive Staples) Lewis and American poet Joy Davidman, this work began life as a television production, became a stage play, and then a film starring Anthony Hopkins and Debra Winger.
This revival of the 2019 Chichester Festival Theatre production captures the intellectual depth and the emotional vulnerability at the heart of the story and is both thought-provoking and heart-warming. It really is something of a rare achievement, a quiet play that engages the head and the heart in equal measure.
Shadowlands review – quick links
Star performances from Hugh Bonneville and Maggie Siff
The key performances in Shadowlands are delivered with sensitivity, intelligence and remarkable restraint, aided by a thoughtfully curated set and a great supporting cast, who are both seen and unseen.
Bonneville and Siff deliver outstanding performances in the lead roles. Bringing gravitas and nuance to his role, Bonneville portrays a man of formidable intellect whose carefully constructed emotional defences are gradually and heartbreakingly dismantled. It’s a finely calibrated performance where every gesture, every flicker of gnawing doubt or dawning awareness is delivered with quiet precision.
Bonneville is, of course, a national treasure and he delivers an assured performance to an audience who clearly knows and loves him. There is no melodrama here; it’s just a gentle unfolding of Lewis’ emotional journey. This is a portrayal that feels authentic and deeply human. As he says in his opening monologue, ‘If God loves us, why does he allow us to suffer so much?’
Alongside him, Maggie Siff is a delight, delivering a performance of vivid warmth and clarity. She plays Joy Davidman with a bit of sass but fully in keeping with her time of life and the period in which the play is set. Siff infuses her role with considered intelligence and clear emotional honesty.
We feel like we know her, understand her challenges and share her feelings. From the lighter, more playful exchanges to the deeper emotional passages, Siff communicates with clarity and dignity.
There is a strong on-stage partnership between Siff and Bonneville, and the relationship of their characters is completely believable – tender, complex, and very real. Together, they explore their evolving relationship with such subtlety and restraint that the audience feels intimately involved. When Lewis proposes to Davidman, saying ‘Will you marry this foolish, frightened old man’, we desperately hope she says yes.
The supporting actors in Shadowlands are all good but are very much there to give context to the main story. A special mention must be made of Jeff Rawle as CS Lewis’s brother, known as Major Lewis. Rawle is wonderful, bringing both wit and maturity to the part, with moments of self-deprecating humour and a knowing sense of quiet wisdom.
His performance is finely judged, adding texture to the world of the play. Rawle is an actor I’ve admired since he played George Dent in TV’s Drop the Dead Donkey back in the 1990s and it is a testament to his skill that his minor character here leaves a lasting impression.
Three young actors share the small but pivotal role of Davidman’s son, Douglas, with a big round of applause going to Ayrton English, who played to a full house on press night.
Bringing a human story out of the shadows
William Nicholson’s script is intelligent and thoughtful. He takes profound themes of faith, love, suffering and the limits of rational understanding, and treats them with a gentle touch. Shadowlands is not some diatribe or stuffy philosophical debate; it is very much real people and true emotions. The dialogue sparkles with erudition and these big issues are seamlessly woven into the emotional arc of the story.
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Complementing the performances and the script is an evocative yet understated set designed by Peter McKintosh. The staging is elegant in its simplicity, conjuring a sense of time and place without overwhelming the actors or the text.
Subtle shifts in lighting and arrangement suggest emotional as well as physical transitions, enhancing the storytelling in a way that feels organic and unobtrusive. The design choices all feel carefully curated. Director Rachel Kavanaugh ensures everything is handled with admirable restraint, reinforcing the intimacy of the piece and keeping the focus on the key characters.
Shadowlands invites us to reflect on life’s most challenging questions. It trusts the power of thoughtful conversation, allowing ideas and emotions to emerge organically through interaction and experience. This is a deeply satisfying evening of West End theatre that really does give you something to think about. Highly recommended.
