An Evening with C.S. Lewis at Metropolis Performing Arts Centre

Chicago Reader - Highly Recommended

"...You have to admire an actor with the guts (and stamina) to take on a show that runs close to two hours using just his voice and body. That's what British actor David Payne does here-quite engagingly, from a script he adapted from the writings of his fellow Brit C.S. Lewis. It certainly helps that Lewis himself was such a lively and witty eccentric."

Chicago Stage and Screen - Highly Recommended

"...It's amazing how little it feels like a ninety-minute monologue. The characters in Lewis's life are described in such fine detail that you feel like you're meeting them. The only slow moments, which hold your attention with heartbreak instead of humor, are after intermission, when Lewis is describing the complex relationship with his wife and her death from cancer. It's as if he gets lost in thought during this last bit (whether as actor or character, I'm not sure), and the audience is taken out of the vivid narration when soft music starts to play from the speakers, the only time anything is heard but Payne's voice. No doubt this must be the hardest section for Payne to get through, as it's his first show since the passing of his own wife last December."