By John Lyle Belden

During World War II, many English children were sent to friends’ or relatives’ homes in the countryside, away from cities where German bombs and rockets fell.

You can’t get much further away than Narnia.

This is the situation of the four siblings in “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe,” a stage adaptation by Joseph Robinette, based on the beloved story by C.S. Lewis (a novel in his Chronicles of Narnia series). It is presented in Westfield as the summer youth production of Main Street Productions through this weekend.

In the country house where the Pevensie children are staying, the youngest, Lucy (Morgan Rusbasan) finds the Wardrobe in the Spare Room, and discovers in it a doorway to a vast, cold forest. There she encounters a faun, Tumnus (Makenzie Walter), who makes the fateful decision to warn her of the White Witch who keeps Narnia in winter – but without Christmas – and to send her to the lamp post that leads back to the Wardrobe portal. When easily-bored brother Edmund (Camren Davis) follows Lucy into the fantasy wood, he meets the Witch (Maile Alpizar) who says she’s the Queen of Narnia and promises him all the Turkish delight he can eat if Edmund brings his siblings to her.

When all four Pevensies cross over, including Peter (Harrison Gabinski Coon) and Susan (Annalisa Schuth), they learn from Mr. and Mrs. Beaver (Chaya Elicker and Nora Gapinski Coon) about the Witch’s treachery, the return of the true king Aslan the lion (Kaelyn Harvey), and a prophecy that these human children (“Sons of Adam, daughters of Eve”) are meant to fulfil. Meanwhile, the Witch dispatches the leader of her secret police, the wolf Fenris Ulf (Layne Thompson) to find the children and slay any being that stands in his way.

This cast of more than two dozen eager children and teens also includes Naomi Mattysse as the mysterious White Stag, Zack Harvey as a Centaur, Cersei Davis as a Unicorn, and John Engle as Father Christmas, who brings the perfect gifts for the Pevensies’ quest.

Directed by Brandi Davis, the fantasy characters are mainly distinguished by head makeup, not encumbered by furs or fake hooves. Full-body costuming is largely reserved for the lead arch-rivals, Alpizar’s Witch in a stunning white gown and Harvey’s Aslan in a dignified lion-hued suit.

Actors often get a kick out of playing the villain, and Alpizar and Thompson take to their roles with gusto. When the Witch/Queen is upset, you’ll know. At the other end of the scale, Harvey gives the Lion all the gravitas she can muster – appropriate as Lewis, a devout Christian, wrote Aslan as a sort of avatar of Jesus Christ.

You have four more chances to visit this vision of Narnia, 7:30 p.m. Thursday through Saturday and 2:30 p.m. Sunday (July 25-28) at Basile Westfield Playhouse, 220 N. Union St. (leave early to get around downtown construction). Get tickets at westfieldplayhouse.org.