You will enjoy Max McLean's production of C.S. Lewis' conversion: The Most Reluctant Convert.
The New Yorker: " Lewis’ fiercely considered intellectual reason makes the stuffy Oxford don intriguing company.”
My favorite line from the performance: "My Oxford friend Barfield was raised in an open-minded family... so naturally he knew nothing about Christianity." I also loved the part about his pre-university tutor W T Kirkpatrick. Some teacher, demanding as hell of intellectual consistency and precision. Also, his experiences in combat in WW l.
Lewis' conversion happened like Hemingway's line about how a character's bankruptcy happened, "Gradually, then suddenly."
It's at the Acorn on W 42nd St NYC. Cheap. McLean did another one man show of Screwtape a couple of years ago (which we saw. Also a tour de force). This is only 80 minutes. After, you can grab a bite or a cocktail at our favorite joint in that neck of the woods, The West Bank Cafe, right across the street. Cozy and great service.
When McLean finishes, he takes questions from the audience. Mrs. BD unmasked her intelligence with the best question.
The Acorn is in one of these new sorts of multiplex stage theaters that are emerging around NYC. It's a cool concept: four or so black box theaters on a few floors of an old converted industrial building, all sharing administration etc. Each small theater has its own name.
Also want to mention that all the brand-new high-rises around W 42nd are astonishing. That used to be a lousy area between the Garment District and Hell's Kitchen with a long windy hike to the subway. Every few months there is a new luxury high rise even though the general area is too busy and charmless in my opinion. The Big Apple draws ambitious, determined, and talented people like an apple draws fruit flies.
