Last night a group of us from Immanuel went to see the theatrical production of The Screwtape Letters. That’s not an easy work to dramatize, but it was done quite effectively with just a single speaking actor (playing Screwtape) and his secretary, Toadpipe, who mimicked much of what Screwtape was saying. There was a horrid wall far behind Screwtape’s lair that was built with skulls, and Toadpipe would climb up a ladder to place the correspondence in a special mailbox.
It’s been some time since I last read the book, but what struck me last night were the following points:
- God created the pleasures, and it is good for man’s spiritual life to enjoy the pleasures as He intended them. The devil, to be effective, must twist and corrupt the pleasures.
- Music and silence are tools of God and the sound of heaven; noise is the work of the devil.
- One of the devil’s oldest tricks is to get men to objectify women, devoting himself to an unreal picture of a woman, leading him to corruption through fantasy, prostitution, and unhappy marriage designed to lead him away from God.
The production was put on by the Fellowship for the Performing Arts, was very professional, and I would highly recommend it should it come to a city near you.
If you have seen it – or have read the book – what did you take away from it? Let us know in the comments.
