By Sheona Burns
Children need to get off their rumps, switch off the TV and turn on their imaginations.
The fantasy world of Narnia is coming to Centretown.
A stage adaptation of C.S. Lewis’s children’s novel The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe will hit the stage at the Canadian Museum of Nature.
The play, produced by the Carousel Players, is geared toward children ages seven to thirteen.
The professional theatre company, based in St. Catharines, creates plays for children to help enhance their education through the performing arts.
“We use professionals in all aspects of our creation so children can experience accomplished, stimulating and exciting theatre,” says Carousel’s administrative director, Leslie Francombe.
In Carousel Players’ adaptation of the play, the four children, Peter, Lucy, Susan and Edmund, recount their experiences when they were sent away from their homes during the Second World War.
Using minimal props and set pieces, masks and a physical theatre style, they re-enact their adventures in hopes of discovering Narnia again.
“The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is an exciting play that also educates children,” says Francombe.
“It deals with themes of sacrifice, betrayal and bravery so important to surviving the war years.”
Francombe says it’s important that children learn these concepts and lessons about life because they are still relevant in today’s society.
Francombe also says theatre is one of the primary ways children learn about life.
“Kids can learn about actions and consequence, about customs and beliefs, about others and themselves,” she says.
“Even though it’s fun for the kids to watch, there’s so much more to it than that.”
Terry Judd, who plays Peter in the play and is also the co-founder of Carousel, agrees children’s drama is an important teaching tool.
“By allowing children to experience the performing arts, you’re helping to inspire their creativity and imagination,” he says.
“The theatre’s exciting to watch but it can also help improve their reading and communication skills.”
Judd says children can learn things from watching theatre they can’t get from sitting in front of the TV.
“Sitting back and watching the television is such a passive activity,” he says.
“You’re just staring at a screen being spoon-fed images. It doesn’t require much thought or imagination.”
Judd says in a theatre production, the actors are creating an imaginary world that forces the children to exercise their own imaginations.
Jessica Harper says she plans to take her daughter Ally to the show.
“I think it’s important to allow young people to experience the performing arts,” says Harper.
“Kids today spend too much time listening to Britney Spears and watching TV,” she says.
“It’s nice to add some culture to their little lives.”
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe will run from April 26-28 at the Museum of Nature.
Tickets are $8 and can be purchased by calling 566-4700.