Dear Readers, “There are nine bottles in front of you. Eight are honey, and one is a deadly poison that will instantly take your life. If you are lucky enough, and drink from the bottle full of honey, you will be granted a bag full of money. But if not, you know what will happen.” If this suggestion was made to you, what would you do? Of course, not taking up the challenge is also an option, which may indeed be the wisest decision.

The musical The Screwtape Letters starts with a mysterious, entrancing voice that offers the gamble of life or death. A man on the stage hesitates, then decides to test his luck just once because he has a lot of debt. He chooses a bottle, and is glad to find out that he chose honey. Relieved, he takes the bag full of money and pays for his debt. Experiencing the honey-like “sweetness” of money, he decides to have another go. Again, he succeeds. Though he does not need more, he repeats the gamble throughout his life and earns huge sums until he has grown very old. Unable to believe his luck, he is left with only two bottles. He no longer hesitates, but at once chooses a bottle and drinks from it. Luckily, his last choice was also honey. However, there is a twist, as the voice reveals that all nine bottles were honey in the first place. All along, the man had wasted his youth, devoured in the poison of money and of greed; slowly, his life was already becoming closer to one that people would call hell. It is too late when the man realizes to whom the entrancing voice belongs − the devil.

Delighted by his success, the ancient devil and boss of the Devil Special Agency, Screwtape, sits in his office and starts to write a letter. It is for his nephew, Wormwood. Wormwood is new to the agency, and is much less experienced. To make him his successor and train him to lure more humans to their damnation, Screwtape writes down tips to successfully threaten and tempt mortal beings. Wormwood, with his companion Black Angel, receives the letter and proudly goes on to complete their demonic mission, which is to corrupt a man named Lewis. They anticipate that the mission is going to be easy, as humans are merely mortal beings while they are devils with endless life, which makes them ignore the warnings that Screwtape added in the letter.

The first advice of Screwtape is to immerse Lewis deeply in a spiritual pursuit, and to not care about the fundamental responsibilities of life. Wormwood and Black Angel influence Lewis to become tired and easily-irritated, so that he would not care for his ill mother and only have interest in his beliefs, praying all the time. However, this makes him pursue the virtues that only exist in his imagination, blind to the ill reality. The devils remark how humans are foolish enough to donate to deprived people living far away, when they do not look after those who are right next to them. Sensing that Lewis is getting closer to his downfall, the devils force Lewis to go through a series of unfortunate events, so that he would feel anxious and lose hope about his life. Lewis ends up not having money to buy his own lunch, starts to become lazy, gets rejected by the publishing company he applied to, and is falsely accused for a crime he did not commit. However, the plan fails, as Lewis does not lose hope even through his hardships. The two devils reread the letter from Screwtape, and discover what they missed before: if humans start to have hope, they can be invincible even though they are mortal. Having underestimated the will power of Lewis, the devils try once more to corrupt him.

This time, they take Screwtape’s advice from another letter, which is that Lewis’s belief may be a “fake” one, in which case the devils might still stand a chance. Lewis’s mind was indeed full of human conventions, regarding properties like money and cars. Black Angel attempts to stop him from thinking about what is right and what is wrong, never leaving him alone for him to have his own thoughts. Wormwood, on the other hand, tries to stop him from fulfilling his duties and allows him to have his own free time. Wormwood’s plan leads Lewis to do the things that he truly enjoys, such as taking a walk or reading a book. Their plan fails again, as hobbies are connected to the deepest desire to experience pleasure. This pleasure, Screwtape explains while reproaching the devils for their failed attempts, is what only human beings can experience, which leads them to the state of “immersion” that enables them to clear their minds and find the joy of life again.

Screwtape gives his next advice that when humanity thinks that they are humble, that is precisely when they can be full of vanity. Wormwood and Black Angel try to manipulate this psychology by surrounding Lewis with people who flatter him for his humbleness. However, this worsens the situation, as Lewis does not become vain, but falls in love with the woman who praised his humility. Black Angel assures and insists that love is meaningless, and that it would lead Lewis to become corrupt, immersed in the physical pleasure driven by human instincts. However, love only makes Lewis stronger.

With nothing going according to plan, Wormwood becomes sick of his uncle not trusting him. Eager to prove his worthiness, he proceeds on to the final plan to create a war, without reading his uncle’s letters. People start fighting each other, and Lewis is not an exception. The continued war makes people weak, and reveals the hypocritic, dark side of humanity. While serving the military, Lewis rejects people in need, and his cowardice grows with soldiers all around him dying. This time, Wormwood and Black Angel are sure of their success. Rather than checking what happens to Lewis, they feast and drink amidst the battles and bloodshed.

The next day, Wormwood and Black Angel open their eyes to find Screwtape glaring down at them. Overnight, Lewis thought of his loved ones and had regained his strength. Screwtape explains how war, even though it leads people to their deaths and awakens their selfishness, it also reminds them of their finite life. They turn away from the mundane, earthly values such as vanity and money, and start to realize that “today is the day that those who died yesterday most wished for”. In the same way, Lewis had realized the true meaning of life and how to appreciate every moment of it.

Enraged by the two devils’ failure and continuous ignorance of his advice, Screwtape engulfs them and uses them as a source to grow his power. The lights on the stage dim. When the stage lights up again, only the dark, monstrous silhouette of Screwtape is to be seen. As if nothing happened, Screwtape walks into the light and greets the newly appointed devils, starting yet another lecture on how to lure humans to their downfall.

The Screwtape Letters is based on the novel by the same name. Originally published in 1942, it was written by C. S. Lewis, a British writer well known for his apologetics and books for children, including the classic series The Chronicles of Narnia. The Screwtape Letters ponders the idea of the true meaning of life through satire and the use of ironic language; here, virtue is evil and God is called the “Enemy”. The musical simplified and effectively dramatized the 31 letters of the novel, in a clear way that is easier to understand. Although human life is seen through a most unexpected perspective, which talks about how devils entrance humans, it shows ways we should live our lives, if we do not want to end up living a life worse than hell.

Throughout the musical, the question of why we face so many difficulties in our lives is constantly raised. It is answered by the contrast between the lives of devils and humans, and emphasized through the use of red and white lighting. Even though the devils have eternal life, they are ignorant of its true value. Wormwood and Black Angel discuss how they cannot understand the complicated, joyful laughs that humans make − the ones that peculiarly arise in the most trivial situations. They do not know love either, and they are unaware of hope, gratefulness, friendship, and overcoming of difficulties, all of which cannot be seen, but still exist in the everyday, human life.

Despite the stage not being very big, and having around twenty to thirty seats, it is filled with impressive voices and acting that can be enjoyed up close. Perhaps just like the small stage, the life that we are living now may seem small, but inside, contains more significant values. As we do not have a demon to consult, I hope our readers are able to find, question, and appreciate the value of their life.