Timely and Timeless

FPA’s production is a faithful adaptation of Lewis’ extraordinary book. By dramatizing it in a way that touches on 24 of the 31 letters in the book, the play gives a clear picture of the powers and principalities that so influence our world.

The Screwtape Letters is based on Lewis’ own battles with temptation and how he had to resist the wiles of the devil after following Christ. The play is told through two powerful story arcs. The first shows what happens to The Patient, Screwtape’s name for the unsuspecting human on earth who he is trying to damn. Here, we see the man go from being spiritually indifferent to becoming quite devout, despite Screwtape’s many attempts to ruin him. The second arc follows Screwtape, who begins the play as a master-of-the-universe character who loves the way he looks, loves the way he talks and loves the way he dresses. He sees himself as the smartest guy in the room. He is pure pride. But in the course of trying to damn his patient, Screwtape becomes a defeated devil. Both story arcs are propelled forward by the active presence in the story of Screwtape’s “enemy,” God. Through Screwtape, Lewis shows how to unmask Satan, who “masquerades as an angel of light.”

Dr. Jerry Root, professor emeritus of evangelism at Wheaton College, a recognized scholar on Lewis and a great friend of FPA, offers two important insights on what lies behind Screwtape’s enduring relevance.*

• “The Screwtape Letters are mirrors to our own soul,” he said. So that through Screwtape’s letters, we begin to see the truth about ourselves.
• “Screwtape is a tutor to lead us to Christ,” Jerry said, “to make us aware of where we need God more desperately.”