Play follows writer C.S. Lewis from Christian debunker to believer

Actor and playwright Max McLean has spent the past 18 years creating stage adaptations of the works of C.S. Lewis, a writer McLean finds endlessly fascinating.

“He captures my imagination,” McLean said. “He offers a constellation of brilliant ideas and thoughts that I find nowhere else.”

McLean’s latest play, “C.S. Lewis on Stage: Further Up & Further In,” traces the Christian writer from donnish obscurity in the 1930s to international renown a decade later.

McLean stars in the national tour of the one-man show, arriving at the Peace Center’s Gunter Theatre for five performances, Sept. 22-25.

“Further Up & Further In” begins with Lewis at 32 years old, an Oxford Fellow known for his scholarship in Medieval and Renaissance literature. Lewis gains a far larger following through his later writings on Christianity and his wartime broadcasts on BBC radio.

“By the end of World War II, he’s known throughout the English-speaking world as perhaps the most profound Christian thinker of his generation,” McLean said, speaking by phone from his home in New Jersey.

Committed believer

The 90-minute play, described as an immersive multimedia experience, centers on how Lewis fully embraced Christianity in the 1930s, moving from vigorous debunker to committed believer. It follows Lewis as he earns wide acclaim for his wartime radio talks that would be anthologized in “Mere Christianity.” The play touches on Lewis’ other works, such as “The Screwtape Letters,” and his views on an array of Christian issues.

An award-winning actor, McLean is the founder and artistic director of the Fellowship for Performing Arts, a New York City-based company that produces live theater and film from a Christian perspective.

McLean and his creative team recreate Lewis’ world though sets, music and visual projections, and McLean’s script closely follows Lewis’ writings.

“It consists almost entirely of Lewis’ own words,” McLean said. “You’re hearing his language, his self-deprecating sense of humor, and how his ideas are formed.”

Adapting Lewis

McLean began adapting Lewis’ works in 2005, starting with “The Screwtape Letters” and “The Great Divorce.”

“The Most Reluctant Convert,” McLean’s stage adaptation of Lewis’ autobiography “Surprised by Joy,” toured nationally and enjoyed a long run in New York City. It was later adapted into a feature-length film, with McLean as the older Lewis.

“C.S. Lewis is fascinating because you can never get to the bottom of him,” McLean said. “He read everything from the Greeks to the moderns. He had a steel-trap mind, remembering everything he read. He had a magnificent ability to translate it into profound prose and speech.”

McLean recently signed a deal to create two new films that follow Lewis later in his life. Filming will begin next summer, with the first film planned for release in 2024.