It is said that Englishwoman Elizabeth Sawyer was pale faced, walked with a stoop and had an eye that she shared with one of her parents.
Supposedly, the devil seduced her, visiting her in the form of a dog named Tom. After a woman named Agnes Ratcleife struck one of Sawyer’s sows for eating her soap, Sawyer was accused of using magic to kill Ratcleife. Women enlisted by an English court searched Sawyer’s body to look for a witch’s mark — a physical imperfection that purportedly denotes a witch — and claimed to have found one.
Sawyer was convicted of witchcraft and hanged in 1621, inspiring the popular play “The Witch of Edmonton” that same year. Riffing on this tale is Jen Silverman’s “Witch,” a modern work that depicts the townspeople of Edmonton happily selling their souls to the devil while Sawyer resists his efforts.
“That’s the moral spine of the play,” explains Andrew Gall, director of the Richmond Shakespeare staging that opens this week at Virginia Rep’s Theatre Gym. “It’s really about these six people, one of whom is the devil, and how they’re all really just sort of victims of this power system that rewards people and incentivizes the most terrible kinds of behavior.”
For Gall, the show serves up an interesting thought experiment: “How often do you get to do plays where you’re putting the devil into uncomfortable situations with a woman who won’t sell him her soul?” he says.
Katrinah Carol Lewis, who plays Sawyer in the show, says “Witch” delves into the details of making a Faustian bargain.
“It’s a unique exploration of the idea of the devil purchasing a soul and what that might be all about, and what our responsibilities are to ourselves, to our souls, to our community,” Lewis says. “What does it take for us as humans to relinquish a part of ourselves that is precious and essential to who we are? What does it take for us to give something like that up for riches or for love or a new beginning?”
Lewis says “Witch” is a feminist work that speaks to both the 17th century and today.
“It lives in both worlds,” she says. “You see women in the play navigating their circumstances and becoming as self-actualized as possible through trying to live their lives in ways that are satisfying and beneficial to them.”
John Mincks plays Scratch, a demon who’s always looking for a soul to snatch.
“He’s a junior salesman devil,” Mincks explains. “He’s always trying to make the deal, and he’s a little bit different from what you’d expect a devil to be, because he’s also very bad at his job.”
Part of the show’s intrigue involves watching characters decide what their souls are worth.
“Everyone in town is having their own experience with the devil, and we get to see how all of these characters change as their intentions and their desires and passions get warped by the deals they’re making,” Mincks says.
Though Sawyer is portrayed as a societal outcast in the show, she’s relatively content with her lot in life and is suspicious of the devil’s offer.
“She’s guarded. She’s got her boundaries,” Lewis says. “Some souls are bought easily, but Elizabeth’s soul is not. She’s skeptical and she questions him. She’s thoughtful and she’s challenging and she takes up her own kind of space. She’s rejected by her community. She’s had to figure out how to live a life that feels satisfying to her.”
Though “Witch” is inspired by “The Witch of Edmonton,” Gall says the former is very much a play that speaks to our time.
“You don’t need to know anything about ‘The Witch of Edmonton’ to appreciate or understand ‘Witch’ at all,” Gall says. “The language is very contemporary. They sound like us. They’re not speaking in blank verse. The language isn’t 400 years old.”
Despite some characters making deals with the devil, “Witch” doesn’t have all the supernatural trappings you might expect from the show’s title.
“There aren’t any black cats or boiling cauldrons,” Gall explains. “Nobody hops on a broomstick and takes a ride or anything like that. It’s a very interesting play that uses history to examine where we are now and the moment that we’re in.”
Richmond Shakespeare’s “Witch” runs Oct. 23-Nov. 9 at Virginia Rep’s Theatre Gym, 114 W. Broad St. For more information visit richmondshakespeare.org or call 804-340-0115.
