The Witch of Edmonton

The Witch of Edmonton is an English Jacobean play, written by William Rowley, Thomas Dekker and John Ford in 1621.
The play, “probably the most sophisticated treatment of domestic tragedy in the whole of Elizabethan-Jacobean drama”, is based on events that supposedly took place in the parish of Edmonton, then outside London, earlier that year. The play depicts Elizabeth Sawyer, an old woman shunned by her neighbours, who gets revenge by selling her soul to the Devil, who appears to her in the shape of a black dog called Tom. In addition, there are two subplots. One depicts a bigamist who murders his second wife at the devil’s prompting, and the other depicts a clownish yokel who befriends the devil-dog.

Cast & Crew

Cast

A Dog
Ann Ratcliffe
Carter
Constable
Cuddy Banks
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First Clown
First Countryman
Fourth Clown
Frank Thorney
Justice
Katherine
Mother Sawyer
Old Banks
Old Thorney
Ratcliffe
Sawgut
Second Clown
Second Countryman
Sir Arthur Clarington
Sir Arthur Clarington
Somerton
Spirit of Katherine/Hamluc
Susan
Third Clown
Third Countryman
Warbeck
Winifred

Crew

Composer
Designer
Director

Photographs

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Photo credits

  • Marius Goring in The Witch of Edmonton 1936, Other public domain

Observations

  1. On 18th January 2024 at 3:34 a.m., EvilTwinBob noted:

    Comments: The attribution of the play solely to Dekker is the program’s.

    Although Stuart Burge listed his performance here as his debut, he had appeared as an extra in two earlier productions.

    This was Anna Konstam’s London debut.

    Reviews: “The revival was an experiment worth making, but it must be confessed that its chief value is experimental.”. (Times 09/12/1936)

    Ivor Brown in The Observer (13/12/1936) describing Marius Goring’s performance: “Mr. Marius Goring rolled his eyes a good deal and put up a satisfactory show as the bold, bad Frank, lecher, murderer, and liar”.

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