The Screwtape Letters
It is written in a satirical, epistolary style and, while it is fictional in format, the plot and characters are used to address Christian theological issues, primarily those to do with temptation and resistance to it.First published in February 1942,[2] the story takes the form of a series of letters from a senior devil, Screwtape, to his nephew, Wormwood, a junior tempter.[3] In The Screwtape Letters, Lewis imagines a series of lessons on the importance of taking a deliberate role in Christian faith by portraying a typical human life, with all its temptations and failings, seen from devils' viewpoints.In Screwtape's advice, selfish gain and power are seen as the only good, and neither devil can comprehend God's love for man or acknowledge human virtue.With this end in mind, Screwtape urges Wormwood in Letter VI to promote passivity and irresponsibility in the Patient: "(God) wants men to be concerned with what they do; our business is to keep them thinking about what will happen to them."Lewis, an Oxford and Cambridge scholar himself, suggests in his work that even intellectuals are not impervious to the influence of such devils, especially during complacent acceptance of the "Historical Point of View" (Letter XXVII).In Letter XXII, after several attempts to find a licentious woman for the Patient "to promote a useful marriage", and after Screwtape's narrowly avoiding a painful punishment for having divulged to Wormwood God's genuine love for humanity (about which Wormwood had promptly informed the Infernal authorities), Screwtape notes that the Patient has fallen in love with a Christian girl, and through her and her family, had adopted a very Christian way of life.Toward the end of this letter, in his anger, Screwtape becomes a large centipede, mimicking a similar transformation in Book X of Paradise Lost, wherein the devils are changed into snakes.Later in the correspondence, it is revealed that the young man may be placed in harm's way by his possible civil defence duties (it is stated in an earlier letter that he is eligible for military service, but it is never actually confirmed that he was indeed called).In the last letter, the Patient has been killed during the Blitz and has gone to Heaven, and for his ultimate failure, Wormwood is doomed to suffer the consumption of his spiritual essence by the other devils, especially by Screwtape himself.Philadelphia playwright and actor Anthony Lawton's original adaptation of The Screwtape Letters has been staged several times since 2000 by Lantern Theater Company, most recently in May/June 2014.In Lawton's adaptation, each of Screwtape's letters is punctuated by varied dances including tap, Latin ballroom, jazz, martial arts, and rock – and whips and fire-eating.The production re-opened at the Mercury Theater in Chicago in September 2008, and continued on a national tour including San Francisco, Phoenix, Louisville, Chattanooga, Fort Lauderdale, Houston and Austin, through January 2010 as well as playing at The Shakespeare Theatre in Washington, D.C. for ten weeks.The 2011 tour visited performing arts venues in cities throughout the United States including Los Angeles, Houston, Dallas, Atlanta, Seattle, Minneapolis, and Boston.[22] Andy Serkis, known for playing Gollum in The Lord of the Rings film trilogy, provided the voice for Screwtape, with Bertie Carvel as Wormwood, Philip Bird as The Patient (identified in this production as "John Hamilton"), Laura Michelle Kelly as The Girl (identified in this production as "Dorothy"), Roger Hammond as Toadpipe, Christina Greatrex as Slumtrimpet, Janet Henfrey as Glubose, Eileen Page as John Hamilton's mother, Susie Brann as Viv Brett, Robert Benfield as Noel Brett, and Geoffrey Palmer as C.S.