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Shadowlands: A Play
William Nicholson's Tony nominated stage adaptation of his award-winning BBC Teleplay relates the story of shy Oxford don and children's author C.S. Lewis and American poet Joy Gresham. Shadowlands shows how love, and the risk of loss, transformed this great man's relationships, even with God.
An L.A. Theatre Works full-cast performance featuring: Arthur Hanket, Harriet Harris, Nicholas Hormann, Martin Jarvis, Christopher Neame, Kenneth Schmidt, W. Morgan Sheppard
An L.A. Theatre Works full-cast performance featuring: Arthur Hanket, Harriet Harris, Nicholas Hormann, Martin Jarvis, Christopher Neame, Kenneth Schmidt, W. Morgan Sheppard
100 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1989
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708 people want to read
About the author
William Nicholson
213 books480 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
William Nicholson was born in 1948, and grew up in Sussex and Gloucestershire. His plays for television include Shadowlands and Life Story , both of which won the BAFTA Best Television Drama award in their year; other award-winners were Sweet As You Are and The March . In 1988 he received the Royal Television Society's Writer's Award. His first play, an adaptation of Shadowlands for the stage, was Evening Standard Best Play of 1990, and went on to a Tony Award winning run on Broadway. He was nominated for an Oscar for the screenplay of the film version, which was directed by Richard Attenborough and starred Anthony Hopkins and Debra Winger.
Since then he has written more films - Sarafina, Nell, First Knight, Grey Owl , and Gladiator (as co-writer), for which he received a second Oscar nomination. He has written and directed his own film, Firelight ; and three further stage plays, Map of the Heart , Katherine Howard and The Retreat from Moscow , which ran for five months on Broadway and received three Tony Award nominations.
His novel for older children, The Wind Singer, won the Smarties Prize Gold Award on publication in 2000, and the Blue Peter Book of the Year Award in 2001. Its sequel, Slaves of the Mastery , was published in May 2001, and the final volume in the trilogy, Firesong , in May 2002. The trilogy has been sold in every major foreign market, from the US to China.
He is now at work on a new sequence of novels for older children, called The Noble Warriors . The first book, Seeker , was published in the UK in September 2005.The second book, Jango, in 2006 and the third book NOMAN, will be published in September 2007.
His novels for adults are The Society of Others (April 2004) and The Trial of True Love (April 2005).
He lives in Sussex with his wife Virginia and their three children.
from williamnicholson.co.uk
William Nicholson was born in 1948, and grew up in Sussex and Gloucestershire. His plays for television include Shadowlands and Life Story , both of which won the BAFTA Best Television Drama award in their year; other award-winners were Sweet As You Are and The March . In 1988 he received the Royal Television Society's Writer's Award. His first play, an adaptation of Shadowlands for the stage, was Evening Standard Best Play of 1990, and went on to a Tony Award winning run on Broadway. He was nominated for an Oscar for the screenplay of the film version, which was directed by Richard Attenborough and starred Anthony Hopkins and Debra Winger.
Since then he has written more films - Sarafina, Nell, First Knight, Grey Owl , and Gladiator (as co-writer), for which he received a second Oscar nomination. He has written and directed his own film, Firelight ; and three further stage plays, Map of the Heart , Katherine Howard and The Retreat from Moscow , which ran for five months on Broadway and received three Tony Award nominations.
His novel for older children, The Wind Singer, won the Smarties Prize Gold Award on publication in 2000, and the Blue Peter Book of the Year Award in 2001. Its sequel, Slaves of the Mastery , was published in May 2001, and the final volume in the trilogy, Firesong , in May 2002. The trilogy has been sold in every major foreign market, from the US to China.
He is now at work on a new sequence of novels for older children, called The Noble Warriors . The first book, Seeker , was published in the UK in September 2005.The second book, Jango, in 2006 and the third book NOMAN, will be published in September 2007.
His novels for adults are The Society of Others (April 2004) and The Trial of True Love (April 2005).
He lives in Sussex with his wife Virginia and their three children.
from williamnicholson.co.uk
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 91 reviews
August 14, 2023
“If you want the love you have to have the pain too.”
audio version
Joy was the feisty, fiery, prickly American Jewish woman whose correspondence with Oxford professor and Narnia creator Jack (CS) Lewis eventually brought them together as lovers and newlyweds who shared a common faith. God’s reality and God’s ways with the world were often questioned and discussed and pondered. Then the cancer came. And her painful death which tore Lewis’s soul apart and caused him to cry out in anguish and anger to his God.
Martin Jarvis is exceptional as Jack Lewis. Harriet Harris is exceptional as Joy. All the acting is exceptional.
The story is two things. They are completely intertwined and inseparable. It is a love story. And it is a story about facing suffering and somehow coming out the other side alive. Even if you die.
When Jack and the young son are weeping together at the end it breaks my heart. I suppose because at such moments of truth we remember the times we’ve wept in the dark too.
* A Grief Observed by Lewis is also recommended
* and A Severe Mercy by Sheldon Vanauken which includes a number of letters on grief and suffering by Lewis sent to Vanauken as they corresponded
audio version
Joy was the feisty, fiery, prickly American Jewish woman whose correspondence with Oxford professor and Narnia creator Jack (CS) Lewis eventually brought them together as lovers and newlyweds who shared a common faith. God’s reality and God’s ways with the world were often questioned and discussed and pondered. Then the cancer came. And her painful death which tore Lewis’s soul apart and caused him to cry out in anguish and anger to his God.
Martin Jarvis is exceptional as Jack Lewis. Harriet Harris is exceptional as Joy. All the acting is exceptional.
The story is two things. They are completely intertwined and inseparable. It is a love story. And it is a story about facing suffering and somehow coming out the other side alive. Even if you die.
When Jack and the young son are weeping together at the end it breaks my heart. I suppose because at such moments of truth we remember the times we’ve wept in the dark too.
* A Grief Observed by Lewis is also recommended
* and A Severe Mercy by Sheldon Vanauken which includes a number of letters on grief and suffering by Lewis sent to Vanauken as they corresponded
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 12, 2022
Without real experiences whether good or painful, our opinions and judgments in life remain just theoretical words
Great play based on a real love relationship between CS Lewis the English author and Joy Gresham the American poet
CS Lewis was middle aged, academic lecturer with strict behavior and thoughts when Gresham entered his life, she was generally different from him but matching him intellectually
when she was diagnosed of terminal stage of cancer after their marriage
he knew the meaning of suffering which he never experienced before
getting into suspicious thoughts of god, love, life and death
why we love if losing hurts so much? is that the deal of life?
at the end, Lewis was trying to reconcile his beliefs with the grief of his loss
Great play based on a real love relationship between CS Lewis the English author and Joy Gresham the American poet
CS Lewis was middle aged, academic lecturer with strict behavior and thoughts when Gresham entered his life, she was generally different from him but matching him intellectually
when she was diagnosed of terminal stage of cancer after their marriage
he knew the meaning of suffering which he never experienced before
getting into suspicious thoughts of god, love, life and death
why we love if losing hurts so much? is that the deal of life?
at the end, Lewis was trying to reconcile his beliefs with the grief of his loss
June 8, 2020
The wonderful story of the relationship between C.S. Lewis and his American wife and poet Joy Gresham. I have to admit that I am a addict of the movie version as well, starring Sir Anthony Hopkins and Debra Winger. 5★
September 25, 2008
I honestly felt this play was pure genius. It was a quick read, only taking an hour or two to finish. The staging was written in a way to allow the reader easy visual pictures. There is a part in the middle where Douglas's gift of a magic apple is entertwined with the marriage of Joy and Lewis, and I thought never in a millions years could I put these pieces together so beautifully.
Even though I felt the story was at times overly predictable, I remained interested through excellent character developments and insights. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and cried my eyes out for at least half of the story.
Even though I felt the story was at times overly predictable, I remained interested through excellent character developments and insights. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and cried my eyes out for at least half of the story.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 29, 2011
I love this play. I remember sitting in the theatre while watching it, sobbing my heart out. I love all the characters (even Christopher, who can be so Christopherish) and they all work so well together. I love how Jack falls in love with Joy; so easy and natural. I love how she understands him and helps him accept the fact that with their love comes pain and sorrow -- that's the deal. So good. Read it -- or better yet, see it.
November 16, 2017
C.S. Lewis and his romance with a young woman who revolutionizes his world view, even though their time together is short.
I was charmed by this play. In it the older man is brought out of his conservative worldview through a developing romance. It is solid writing and a well constructed experience.
Recommend
I was charmed by this play. In it the older man is brought out of his conservative worldview through a developing romance. It is solid writing and a well constructed experience.
Recommend
March 28, 2021
A friend sent this to me to read while I'm going through the same thing, losing a spouse to cancer. What I gained from this was more opportunity to cry and grieve and identify with someone else who experienced this before me, as well as C.S. Lewis's ideas about suffering. He believes that "God creates us free, free to be selfish, but He adds a mechanism that will penetrate our selfishness and wake us up to the presence of others in the world," which is suffering. Pain is "God's megaphone to rouse a deaf world." Well, I can appreciate this. One positive outcome of this suffering I'm experiencing is that I'm learning to care for my neighbors. I am learning how to attend to others in their time of need, and I'm way more tuned in to the pain others are experiencing. Empathy growing, knowing how to care....I can see this. However, the rest of his ideas, about the Shadowlands, are not something I can buy.
Lewis revises his own ideas, those that he preached and held so dear, as soon as experience causes conflict with these ideals. So he's human, which reminds me not to ever take any human being's words to be truth. I liked this part of the play the best, although I doubt that this is what my friend hoped that I would get from the book. I'm also reminded that with love and happiness comes the requisite suffering and misery when the love is gone. But we already knew that.
A timely read for me, somewhat comforting.
Lewis revises his own ideas, those that he preached and held so dear, as soon as experience causes conflict with these ideals. So he's human, which reminds me not to ever take any human being's words to be truth. I liked this part of the play the best, although I doubt that this is what my friend hoped that I would get from the book. I'm also reminded that with love and happiness comes the requisite suffering and misery when the love is gone. But we already knew that.
A timely read for me, somewhat comforting.
June 23, 2022
3.5 Stars!
“We’re the creatures. We’re the rats in the cosmic laboratory. I’ve no doubt the great experiment is for our own good, eventually, but that still makes God the vivisectionist.”
This was an interesting enough little play, but I wouldn't say I loved it. Nicholson is a strong enough writer, but I felt this lacked depth and there appeared to be some frustrating holes, which I found a tad jarring, but certainly worth the read.
October 3, 2017
I was more familiar with Richard Attenborough's film, starring Anthony Hopkins and Debra Winger, which was a wonderful experience to watch. For years after, whenever I would read C.S. Lewis, I would hear Hopkins reading it in my head. The play makes Lewis breathe for us. It doesn't rob him of his faith, but it shows him as human, and illuminates the question of how time and terrors shape our faith and shape us.
January 26, 2019
I love, love this movie and have been wanting to read the screenplay it was based on for years. There were sections here or there that they changed for the movie, a bit of symbolism they couldn’t really incorporate. It’s such a great story and play. With great pace, humor and humanity. Love it!!
lookedinto-decidedagainst
March 6, 2014not so much
July 6, 2023
I try to avoid books that might make me cry, but this one was worth it, even though I cried through all of Act II.
February 16, 2022
The play of Shadowlands is about the marriage of C.S. Lewis and Joy Davidman. It is good. Need to re watch the movie with Anthony Hopkins in it.
March 25, 2020
Excellent. Almost exactly like the movie, which is also a favorite of mine. The audiobook is excellent.
February 14, 2025
Finally got around to checking out William Nicholson’s play Shadowlands, a dramatization of the process of C.S. Lewis falling in love with his wife Joy Davidman Gresham, and dealing with her eventual death of cancer just a few years later. It was sweet and sad and I quite enjoyed it, to the point where I wonder if my long-standing interest in the subject matter might have biased me. But I thought it was quite good, with strong characterizations, excellent dialogue, and lots of lovely little touches that came from an understanding of the actual historical people’s lives. A Grief Observed, a clear inspiration for the work, is one of my favorite pieces of Lewis’s; it was important to me both in dealing with my grief over my mother’s death, and with my own struggles to remain hopeful in the face of pain. So I may be a bit inclined to like it, but I still thought it was good on its own merits.
The only real critique I have of it are that the ending feels a bit rushed; it does touch on how the loss of Davidman shook Lewis’s faith for a time, and he had to rebuild it, but I thought it got to that rebuilt place a bit faster than made sense. Also, there was a moment that didn’t work for me if only because it contradicted an explicit point made in A Grief Observed. There’s a scene where Lewis’s older brother Warren encourages him to speak to his stepson about their shared sorrow over the loss of Davidman. It’s a pretty well-written scene, and I can see why the writer felt it was narratively necessary, but it bugged me because Lewis explicitly says in the memoir that he attempted to talk to the young sons she left behind about it, and it was so uncomfortable for all of them that he quit trying. The scene in the play has that moment go way better than he describes it, and while I get it was a dramatization rather than a biography, it still rang false to me.
My favorite part of the construction was the way it intertwined the story with Lewis’s wrangling with the subject that most preoccupied him in his theological life— what he called “the problem of pain,” the question of how a God that loves us can allow pain in the world. If you’re going to write about Lewis as a character and capture anything true about him, that really does have to be part of his personal struggle, and I thought the play incorporated it well. It also drove home an understanding I always felt was necessary to get Lewis and his work— that this is a man who hurt —because nobody would become so obsessed with that question unless they had a lot of suffering they needed to make sense of.
”How’s the pain, Joy?” “Only shadows, Jack.”
The only real critique I have of it are that the ending feels a bit rushed; it does touch on how the loss of Davidman shook Lewis’s faith for a time, and he had to rebuild it, but I thought it got to that rebuilt place a bit faster than made sense. Also, there was a moment that didn’t work for me if only because it contradicted an explicit point made in A Grief Observed. There’s a scene where Lewis’s older brother Warren encourages him to speak to his stepson about their shared sorrow over the loss of Davidman. It’s a pretty well-written scene, and I can see why the writer felt it was narratively necessary, but it bugged me because Lewis explicitly says in the memoir that he attempted to talk to the young sons she left behind about it, and it was so uncomfortable for all of them that he quit trying. The scene in the play has that moment go way better than he describes it, and while I get it was a dramatization rather than a biography, it still rang false to me.
My favorite part of the construction was the way it intertwined the story with Lewis’s wrangling with the subject that most preoccupied him in his theological life— what he called “the problem of pain,” the question of how a God that loves us can allow pain in the world. If you’re going to write about Lewis as a character and capture anything true about him, that really does have to be part of his personal struggle, and I thought the play incorporated it well. It also drove home an understanding I always felt was necessary to get Lewis and his work— that this is a man who hurt —because nobody would become so obsessed with that question unless they had a lot of suffering they needed to make sense of.
”How’s the pain, Joy?” “Only shadows, Jack.”
November 24, 2013
FRom BBC Radio 4 - Saturday Drama:
Adaptation by Archie Scottney of the play by William Nicholson. The moving true story of the 1950s relationship between Oxford don and author CS Lewis and divorced American writer Joy Gresham.
Adaptation by Archie Scottney of the play by William Nicholson. The moving true story of the 1950s relationship between Oxford don and author CS Lewis and divorced American writer Joy Gresham.
November 22, 2025
C.S. Lewis died on 11/22/63, a week before his 65th birthday. Over the years, I have taken up the habit of spending “a week with Jack” — reading something of his in that space, to spend time with an author whose letters and essays delight me like no other’s. While looking for a quote of Lewis’ to share on Christmas (specifically, his harrumping at the vulgar commercialization of it), I stumbled upon “Shadowlands: A Play” and was immediately intrigued. A few years ago I watched a movie about the relationship of Lewis and his American friend, and later wife, Joy Gresham — and it shared the same name. While “Shadowlands” is largely about the growth of Jack and Joy’s relationship, the scenes are more confined. Much of the play happens at the Kilns, where Jack and some male friends debate and argue and joke — and where Jack and Joy have more serious conversations. “Shadowlands” is not entirely about their relationship, though. It also draws heavily on The Problem of Pain, in that Lewis and his interlocuators frequently discuss suffering and theodicy. This is not abstract filler, either, as during the course of the play Joy learns that she’s been divorced and must now face the world alone. She doesn’t, of course, as anyone familiar with Jack and Joy’s story knows, but their union will bring its suffering as well as its bliss — as we see later in A Grief Observed. I loved this: the writer had a fairly good handle on Lewis’ voice, I think, even when Lewis isn’t being quoted, and the dialogue is often funny and insightful. As the play develops, it becomes quite serious — with Lewis arguing with himself, finding words written about suffering sound rather different when one is deep in the valley of the shadow of death. Definitely recommended to Lewis fans.
November 19, 2021
Shadowlands is a moving play about C.S. Lewis and Joy Davidman Gresham Lewis. We are reading this for our church book club. Nicholson wrote three versions. The first was for a BBC TV movie. Then he wrote this version to be performed on stage. Finally, he wrote the screenplay for the movie starring Anthony Hopkins as Lewis and Debra Winger as Joy. Lewis was a scholar, an author (Christian apologetics and novels including the Narnia series) and seemed to be a confirmed bachelor well into his 50s. He corresponded with Joy Gresham, “technically” married her so she could remain in England, and then fell in love with her when she became ill with cancer.
December 21, 2021
The story of C.S. Lewis and his later-in-life marriage to an American divorcée, I remember vaguely liking the movie. Little did I realize how deeply moving the original play was. It’s rare to see a story of love, faith, fate and stoicism so richly balanced. It’s certainly romantic (and deeply tragic), but it’s so smart as well and it leaves you wanting to go back and revisit all the Lewis writings.
July 12, 2019
This was fabulous. It is a play about the relationship between CS Lewis the English author and Joy Gresham the American poet. There is humor, tragedy and great cultural references about the differences between the English and the American. It is made even more special in that it was written by Joy's son William Nicholson.
April 13, 2018
If you got a serious illness; all of you want someone who cares about you, someone who accepts your heart .. your soul .. your mind to face a lot of troubles in this world with you, Someone stands for you ..
March 25, 2020
A beautiful play about a beautiful human being. A touching message that resounds. I love C.S. Lewis and William Nicholson does a beautiful job with this short work incorporating Lewis's thoughts about pain, suffering & the nature of God's love
July 11, 2020
CS Lewis finds emotional awakening in an American divorcee only to lose her and rail at his faith. How accurate this is I don’t know but it’s a drama of huge power that shows something of the derision that Lewis’ conversion earned him from academic colleagues.
October 19, 2025
I think what this story does is remind us of the meaning of simple lives and brave choices and that they sure rarely as dramatic and inspiring as we imagine them to be but that makes them no less meaningful or beautiful.
June 8, 2017
I found it very interesting and much more engaging that I anticipated.
March 11, 2019
I have no personal connecting to C.S. Lewis, but I found this playing very touching. It is a gentle story of friendship, love, art, and faith.
November 6, 2019
Beautifully structured and written. I’ve owned this okay for years and never read it. So glad I’ve finally experienced it on page.
May 5, 2020
an enjoyable play covering the late-life marriage of CS Lewis
May 21, 2020
A short play about C.S. Lewis and his short marriage.
May 2, 2021
Poignant in its simplicity. Respect. Love. Death.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 91 reviews