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The Screwtape Letters Review Off-Broadway CORRESPONDENCE COURSE FROM HELL
Reviewed by Frank Scheck
Published 2010-05-13

A master class in evil is being offered at the West side Theatre, where one of the devil's chief underlings -- His Abysmal Sublimity Screwtape -- is the central character of this adaptation of C.S. Lewis' "The Screwtape Letters."

Lewis, the British writer best known for his "Chronicles of Narnia" series, explored Christian themes in many of his works, including this one, a 1942 novel composed entirely of letters from the title character to his hapless nephew and devil in training, Wormwood.

Max McLean, who adapted and directed the piece with Jeffrey Fiske, plays Screwtape, seen in his skull-lined study wearing a plush smoking jacket. On the orders of his boss -- Our Father Below -- he's advising his nephew on how to best tempt a Christian man, referred to as "the patient," to the other side.

The letters are dictated to his personal secretary, Toadpipe (Karen Eleanor Wight), a feathered creature who looks like a refugee from Cirque du Soleil, and who expresses herself mainly through stylized movement and the occasional grunt.

Screwtape's lessons in how best to foster evil are clearly meant to be ironic, serving as a reverse primer on Christian morality that's as entertaining as it is thought-provoking.

Although a little static and talky, the piece benefits greatly from its imaginative theatrical elements, including vividly atmospheric sound and lighting effects.

McLean delivers a commanding and appropriately hammy performance as Screwtape. His sardonic missives -- at one point, he dismissively refers to those who "put their faith in an inner ring of trained theocrats" -- are delivered in wonderfully mellifluous tones, ending with a pronunciation of his name in

which the consonants are delivered with the force of a champagne bottle popping.

He sounds exactly like a demon should.

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