Although Shadowlands glosses over some of the problematic implications of Lewis\u2019s marriage, it nonetheless presents marriage as something holy, sacred, and desirable\u2014something that can\u2019t be attained through the mere sanction of the state. \u201cMarriage isn\u2019t just a legal contract,\u201d Lewis instructs Joy. A civil marriage, the play tells us, is not enough; to be married \u201cproperly,\u201d a couple must be wed \u201cbefore God.\u201d For this treatment of holy matrimony, Shadowlands is to be commended\u2014as it is for its celebration of old-fashioned romance. Joy and Lewis\u2019s attraction for each other is not based on sex alone, but on genuine friendship, good conversation, and intellectual compatibility. Their relationship is not the shallow fling of young lovers (Lewis and Joy are middle-aged when they meet, Lewis in his fifties and Joy nearing forty), but something deeper. Shadowlands offers a lovely picture of romance as it ought to be: love and trust between friends that develops into a genuine longing for union.<\/p>\n
Today, when hookup culture has nearly destroyed romantic relationships, and the gravity of divorce is so often dismissed, Shadowlands at least requires us to ask questions about the goodness of marriage and the consequences of sundering it. If you are in Manhattan anytime between now and January 7, it is well worth journeying to Theater Row to ponder them yourself.<\/p>\n