Morro Bay High School Produces The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe Play

By Gabrielle Taylor

This fall, MBHS’ Drama Program put on “The Lion, The Witch, And The Wardrobe.” The play is a Narnia adaptation based on the book series by C.S Lewis and the movie, “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.” The play was student run and directed by junior Emerson Jacquay with the costumes and set designed by students in the drama program.

 The play started off with the four siblings that travel into Narnia, with freshman Elah McKinney as Lucy, senior Angus McNellie as Edmund, junior Jocelyn Ocampo-Mateo as Susan, and senior Connor Kielty as Peter. They stunned the audience with their acting skills and technique regarding physical and emotional performance. It rarely felt like any lines were forced, or the actors didn’t know exactly what to say and do.

Even the actors with the smaller roles, such as a soldier in the battle scene showed confidence, causing them to deliver great performances. From the set changes to the clever wardrobe placement, the play ran extremely smoothly with poise from the cast and crew. The stage was set up in a really practical and professional way while still making a fun, magical play. The frost covered trees in act one elevated the stage deeply, they created a sense of depth and allowed coverage for the actors and stage crew to slip on and off the stage when needed. The set designer showed the witch’s reign was over when the snowflakes and snow were traded for spring flowers and grass. 

The costume design credited to junior Gabrielle White included everything that was expected of a play based off of Narnia. The outfits and dresses represented both the 1940s fashion, as well as the Narnia dress of more old-timey, 1700s wear. The armor had accents of leather and all the costumes displayed stunning craftsmanship. However, the Aslan costume was lacking. Especially compared to the other clothes, the lion costume looked messy and rushed. It was almost unclear what the actor was trying to portray because the design was sloppy. “It was really difficult, for Gabi especially because she's the one in charge of it all,” said sophomore Coco Fortini when asked about creating the lion costume. “I’d say because Hunter was so tall there were difficulties with the feet fluff and making everything stay on,” said Fortini, explaining that there were some complications with the Alsan costume due to the height of senior Hunter Wilson. Everything else about the play was close to perfect but the lion costume unfortunately looked unfinished.