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| Chrissie Forte plays Mother Sawyer and Kimberley Cody is the dog in The Witch of Edmonton. (Nick Pearce Photo) |
In 1621, three British playwrights鈥擳homas Dekker, John Ford, and William Rowley鈥攃ollaborated on a piece called The Witch of Edmonton, basing the story on an execution in the town of Edmonton. The Witch of Edmonton turned out to be anything but topical theatre鈥�400 years later, it remains classic literature, dealing with themes of injustice, isolation and evil. Now, DalTheatre is presenting The Witch of Edmonton as its season opener and Halloween show.
鈥淚t鈥檚 an amazing play,鈥� says Roberta Barker, the Dalhousie/Kings professor who proposed, and is directing, the show. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a very profound play.鈥�
Prof. Barker briefly sketches out the plot: lonely spinster Elizabeth Sawyer, believed by the聽townsfolk of聽Edmonton in England to be a witch, finally becomes one when the devil approaches her in the form of a dog named Tom saying鈥攁s Professor Barker puts it, 鈥淗i, I鈥檓 the devil, and you need to sell your soul to me.鈥�
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This isn鈥檛 Dr. Barker鈥檚 first play at Dalhousie. She directed Troilus and Cressida in 2003 for DalTheatre, then returned with Fuente Ovejuna in 2005. 鈥淚鈥檓 interested in plays about communities,鈥� Professor Barker says. That鈥檚 why The Witch of Edmonton is such a good fit. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a play where the town is the antihero鈥� This is a play I鈥檝e always really liked. The more I work on it, the more profound it seems to me. (It鈥檚 about) where evil comes from 鈥� can we escape the cycle of blaming other people?鈥�
The Witch of Edmonton has aged well; the characters are accessible and human, the language rural and comparatively simple. 鈥�(The characters) are the opposites of kings and princes; they鈥檙e peasants. They鈥檙e leading extremely everyday lives.鈥� Still, it鈥檚 a challenge to actors to successfully inhabit roles created centuries ago. One female lead even has to play a male dog.
鈥淚t鈥檚 very dense, it鈥檚 very complicated鈥� it鈥檚 a huge challenge to actors,鈥� Prof. Barker admits. 鈥淭here鈥檚 a lot of things in (the text) that are very foreign to us鈥� (but) there鈥檚 a point at which all acting challenges the actor to get inside someone who鈥檚 different from them. There鈥檚 no way you can directly say, 鈥極h, yeah. I was a dog yesterday.鈥� But, somehow, you have to find something within yourself.鈥�
The devil you know
Prof. Barker likes to take a hands-off approach to direction, at least initially, allowing her student actors to discover the characters for themselves. When students figure out the emotions of the piece, the play begins to make sense. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e a very brave, and energetic, and willing group,鈥� Dr. Barker says. (Rehearsing for 28 hours a week can鈥檛 hurt, either.)
The Witch of Edmonton is part of DalTheatre鈥檚 year-long set: "The Devil You Know," four plays about evil, wickedness, and the darkness within.聽
鈥淎n old adage tells us that 鈥榯he devil you know is better than the devil you don鈥檛,鈥欌�� explains the season program. 鈥淏ut is the unfamiliar really more threatening than the evil we encounter every day? This season, real life meets mythology as the artists of DalTheatre explore the darkness that lurks within the coziest of communities 鈥� and discover the unexpected blessings of change.鈥�
The other plays making up the sinister suite are Trelawney of the 鈥榃ells鈥�, a Victorian class-clash drama by Arthur Wing Pinero, The Caucasian Chalk Circle, an eerie parable by Berthold Brecht, and contemporary play The Laramie Project, about the real-life murder of gay student Matthew Shepard in the sleepy town of Laramie.
Pondering evil
Theatre聽students themselves petitioned for the addition of The Laramie Project to the season鈥檚 playlist. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e not all plays about the devil in a literal sense,鈥� Dr. Barker explains. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e all plays that are about what communities think of as evil鈥� and they鈥檙e all plays that kind of question that.鈥�
The Witch of Edmonton and The Laramie Project share many themes, despite their differences. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e both plays which kind of depict communities that think of themselves as nice, fine, decent, upstanding communities, in which this horrific thing has happened, and the community has to come to terms with it.鈥�
Roberta Barker pauses and thinks. 鈥淢aybe the devil you know is worse than the devil you don鈥檛,鈥� she says carefully. 鈥淵ou have to realize the darkness that lies within鈥� what鈥檚 familiar to you.鈥�