Ballet Inspired by “The Great Divorce” Premieres This Weekend
Ballet 5:8 is premiering a ballet inspired by C.S. Lewis’ The Great Divorce by Artistic Director Julianna Rubio Slager this weekend in Grand Rapids, MI called The Space in Between.
Drawing inspiration from The Great Divorce by C.S. Lewis, The Space in Between explores the nature of eternity and the joy found on its shores.
The Space in Between is a one-act ballet that will be performed with another original by Slader, Four Seasons of the Soul. The ballets will be toured in other cities, including Chicago, Fort Wayne, and Memphis. Tickets are available on the Ballet 5:8 website. Seen the show? Be sure to tell us what you think!
I've never heard of The Great Divorce, but it seems interesting! Might be worth looking into! (Also, first!)
It's a book that explores the idea that joy comes from God and that apart from God it is impossible to really enjoy creation. In this book, a man who is in hell, is taken to heaven because he wants to see what it is like, but he can't experience it properly because he has lost what makes him human because of sin. This isn't a very good summary, but I don't want to spoil it.
Wow, that's neat! It makes me wonder what a "Till We Have Faces" ballet would look like, too…
Wow! That would be awesome! "Till We Have Faces" is one of the best books I have ever read. I feel like there is always some new layer of that book I am discovering when I re-read it. A ballet based on that book could be mind-blowing!
Till We Have Faces is also one of my favourite books.
C.S.Lewis himself considered it his best-written work, and I can see why. He creates incredibly vivid and multi-layered characters who you care deeply about, and he develops a rich and mysterious culture for them to inhabit. It is written in first person, from the point of view of a woman named Orual who by the end of the book you care for and feel you know deeply. It really is something else.
If anyone hasn't read it, it is highly recommended.
I think they should make "Till We Have Faces" into a musical along the lines of "Les Miserables" or "Hamilton." The problem is for a musical you're supposed to get into all of the characters' heads via song. Till We Have Faces kind of depends on us only getting Orual's point of view for the first half.