Word: witchingly
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...League 'Witch Hunt...
This is not to say that The Gospel Witch is monotonous, but that it demands too much both of audience and actors. Set in the Salem of 1692, its theme is the release of the tensions of an introverted Puritanism in the creation and destruction of an unreal danger. Specifically, it deals with a young girl's accusations of witchcraft against a strong minded farmer's wife, and the implications of the case for the community and the individuals involved. The subject is temptingly rich, and Mr. Phelps has not been able to resist over-entanglement in the moral coils...
...neighbors and her husband. Giles Corey is a man as strong in his beliefs as his wife, but slower in understanding. William Hunt portrays him with great sympathy as a strong man who realizes his wife's innocence too late, and becomes a victim of the young girl's witch persecution himself...
Without a fine performance in the role of the girl, Ann Putnam, the atmosphere of the witch trials would be difficult to understand. But Abigail Lewis plays the part of the accuser with a shocking mixture of malice and unbalance that makes the contagion of her hysteria easily believable. The passion of her seizures punctuates the sober dialogues of her elders and the dignity of courtroom procedure with the note of tension that lies beneath the whole action of the play. As her bewildered father, Layton Zimmer gives the weakest of the major performances, and fails adequately to show...
...technical quality of the production, however, is not an important factor in judging the worth of The Gospel Witch. The play, although fatiguing, is undeniably interesting; Mr. Phelps' verse and the thoughtful interpretations of the cast go far toward revealing the workings of a community gripped by irrational panic and its slow growth toward understanding. The effort which has gone into the production has been ably directed to bring out the merit of the play as it stands. An attentive audience will find it in many ways engrossing and revealing...