Step into the world of Narnia on the Eastbourne stage

Dates include The Congress Theatre, Eastbourne from August 12-16; and The Mayflower Theatre, Southampton from November 18-22. They kicked off with a couple of months in Leeds over Christmas 2024 and will finish in January 2026.

And it is proving a fabulous experience, Joanna says: “It's really fulfilling to see people's reactions. It's a show that's got something for everyone. It's not just a children show. I would say it’s a family show but usually the matinees we get lots of schoolchildren in and I would say they are my favourite shows. The reactions that you see from the children are just beautiful. Sometimes they're really audible and sometimes you just hear the silence they are so involved in it. It's just lovely.”

As for the show, in a sense, you can take whatever meaning from it you want: “It can be whatever you need it to be. Some people would say it is a story of hope or a story of sacrifice or a story of love or a story about being brave or a story about looking after your family or story about just looking after yourself. I think I definitely see it as a story of love.”

It’s a chance to join Lucy, Edmund, Susan and Peter Pevensie as they are evacuated from London in 1940. Together they meet new friends, face dangerous foes and learn important life lessons as they step through the celebrated wardrobe into the world of Narnia.

“I think the children are placed in a really difficult position: they have to leave home and they have to go up to Scotland and they are now staying with the professor and his housekeeper and they really have to look after each other, not just because of the conflict of the war but just because they are together.

“But then the youngest sister goes through the wardrobe and she sees this hidden world, and I think this hidden world speaks of faith or whatever faith looks like for you. Lucy doesn't expect anything but she stumbles across something incredible and she wants to share it but when she wants to tell her siblings about it, she is shot down because they are not ready to share that faith. For Lucy anything is possible but for Peter and Susan who have perhaps more life experience they're not ready to be open to faith in that way.”

Joanna is Susan: “She has had to step into her mum's shoes, and I always the imagine the conversation (as they are being evacuated) with her mum saying ‘I am not going to be here and your dad is not going to be here. You are the oldest girl and you have got to look after the others.’ And that's a lot to put on someone who's only 12 years old. She's got to step into some pretty big shoes. And when Lucy is saying what she has seen, it is not that Susan doesn't want to believe but Susan is very logical and she likes to approach things from a very matter of fact perspective. When her sister is talking about this whole other world through the wardrobe, Susan struggles because she knows her sister is not a liar but she's really doubtful about this world, and I think that's what makes it so interesting. I really love the audience to see the journey that this character goes on, the way that Susan becomes a real warrior. She has to fight. I think she was always a warrior inside but she just needed to realise it. She has always known what it is like to be strong but she also learns what it is to be vulnerable.”