Perfect Union

Lantern Theater Co.'s The Great Divorce

by David Anthony Fox

HIT MAN: Anthony Lawton, in his solo adaptation of The Great Divorce, "shows a new level of experience, tinged with mournfulness."

It's the most basic recipe for theater there is: a bare stage, an actor and a story. On the Lantern Theater stage, the actor is Anthony Lawton. The story — a ghost story, really — is C.S. Lewis' parable The Great Divorce. And the result is magic.

The actor first. Tony Lawton is a mainstay of Philly stages, and we're very lucky. I've seen him in more plays than I can count, and he's never given an uninteresting performance. Quite the contrary: In a huge range of work (drama and comedy, contemporary and classical, playing characters sinister and likable), he's varied, intelligent and often — as in Lonesome West last year, also at Lantern, where he is given some of his best opportunities — absolutely riveting. A few years ago, I would have characterized Lawton's acting as notable for a sly, unsettling raffishness — there was always a twinkle, but something a little destabilizing lay underneath. Like all of us, Lawton has gotten older. But as an actor, it's only made him more interesting. The boyishness is still there, and so — when necessary — is the danger. And like all great actors, he is in masterful control. But now, Lawton shows a new level of experience, tinged with mournfulness. It's these qualities that emerge through so strikingly when the lights come up on him, ashen-faced, eyebrows fixed tragic-comically, as he begins narrating.

Now the story. A group of people, not obviously connected, find themselves bus-bound one rainy night on a long ride that has no clear purpose or destination. Though Lewis provides some context — on one level, Divorce takes place in Britain during the dark days of World War II — it becomes gradually clearer that the setting is metaphoric, the characters ghostly shadows shuttling between heaven and hell. This journey — "vacation," as Lewis dryly puts it — is a test of character, even a lesson in "goodness." Those who know Lewis only through his Chronicles of Narnia novels might be surprised by the wry and very adult themes here, though they will recognize the underlying Christian allegory.

Lawton has done the adaptation himself, and one of the great joys is his way with the charmingly archaic prose. He serves as narrator as well as playing the various characters, each of whom is delineated by skillful body language and accents — but to me, the greater exhibition of virtuosity is the way he can create a vivid visual picture from the slightest play of textual emphasis and facial expression. From the quiet, seemingly casual beginning to the unforgettable final moments, Lawton has us in the palm of his hand. For Philadelphia audiences, The Great Divorce is unmissable, and a celebration of the very happy marriage between Tony Lawton and Lantern Theater. Let's hope for many anniversaries to come.

The Great Divorce | Through Jan. 4, $40, Lantern Theater Co. at St. Stephen's Theater, 923 Ludlow St., 215-829-0395, lanterntheater.org

(d_fox@citypaper.net)