The Screwtape Letters

Friday, BSA, DFL and I went into DC to see the Screwtape Letters, a play based on C.S. Lewis' brilliant book. We arrived at the Shakespeare Theater, and realized that we were a tad under-dressed. We usually go to the Folger Shakespearean Theater, which is a little more casual. But there were some people there in jeans, so we weren't too bad in our business casual.

We went into the lobby, and they had all these Christian audio books for sale, including Jonathan Edwards' platinum Puritan hit, "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God." This has been one of my favorite Hellfire and Damnations sermons since my friend Nanette's brilliant rendition in our Sophomore Honors English class.

We went in and took our seats, which were awesome. Second row. Dead center. The only down side was that whenever Screwtape enunciated you could see the clouds of spit glistening in the stage lights.

Everything on stage was crooked. The floor was crooked, the tables were crooked, and they had this great crooked ladder that went up to the little Hell mailbox. The back wall looked like it came straight from the Paris catacombs. All skulls and rocks.

Screwtape was really good. He basically monologued for an hour and 45 minutes. There was no intermission, and he was awesome the whole way through. The only other person on stage was his little assistant demon.

She was awesome. She walked crooked, and her personality was something between one of those little rat lap dogs, and a really evil monkey. She would jitter and shoot looks, and whenever Screwtape was talking about how he tempted someone, she would mimic the person.

Her little model walk/dance when he was discussing the standards of modern beauty was hilarious.

Basically, I loved it. If this play should happen to come your way, you should definitely check it out.