If We Really Were Witches
The hamlet may be called New Town, but it is dominated by old ideas, Master Witch Hunter John Placidus Thomase leader of the Pricks of Puritanical Piety Guild and Social Club, fierce in his convictions and dominating the meetings, drowning out the more rational voices who ask for trifles such as evidence or reliable witnesses, his gaze cast upon handsome Obediently Snead whom he suspects of sinful reading and thinking and dared to reject his demand of marriage.
In another time and place, the ghost of Obediently’s ancestor Janet, executed most cruelly for witchcraft before her family, a foul and unjust fate, sees history repeat and calls upon her friends Mildred, Agnes and Suds, Independent Magic Contractors, summoning them to intervene and reset the balance, Ghost Janet setting the innocent free and punishing the true villains.
Channelled by the lively quartet of Maddie Nguyen, Siena D’Addario, Jim McMahon and writer and director Kelly F Burr, rotating through a dozen characters of big hats, modest bonnets and shimmering cloaks, If We Really Were Witches would the falsely accused stand for bigotry and shameless slander or would they use their powers to protect themselves and their families? Powerless in a patriarchal society, it is up to the real witches in their midst to change history.
Manic and magical, as pointed as the starched collar of snide townswoman Charity, absence of evidence is indeed evidence of wrongdoing, for why would one choose to live in poverty in a hovel, their wealth concealed, if it had been gained honestly? A black cloaked comedy of the country manners of the 1600s and progressive attitudes, the best worst curse for the closed mind is unwanted enlightenment.
