Spelled

Spelled, written by local author Adrian Cale, is a tale of witchery in the local coven to elect the Prime Witch of the Shires to the National Council of Witches. A local reporter and photographer attend the coven’s latest meeting in order to write a piece around the Prime Witch however, the prime candidate winds up murdered and it’s a case of who did it? 

The all-female cast was made up of 9 characters, each with their individual quirks. The reporter Clara Kent (Clare Patrick) and the photographer Louise Lane (Amy James) had great chemistry, Clare with her sensible no nonsense approach to getting her report completed complimented Amy’s scrappy, overexcited for revenge personality.  Anita Osborne portrayed Beryl Blackberry as quite a quiet witch but with a lust for her missing partner Derek and his marvellous tongue. Beryl carried around a frog in her purse as he reminded her of Derek, little did she know, a spell had been cast and it was Derek! The Prime Witch candidate, Zelda Spore was played by June Johnson. June brought an element of manipulation to the character until her untimely death at the end of Act One. Dora Duckworth (Alison Snow) was a standout character for me. Dora was under a spell (cast by Zelda) causing her to quack uncontrollably. Alison was able to remain in character throughout the whole play whilst having the audience in stiches with her constant quacking. The dialogue was cleverly written, replacing expletives with quacking, making it all the more entertaining. Alison Thomas played the role of Cheryl Coleslaw, a biker witch with a hint of sarcasm and a secret musical theatre enthusiast. There was attention to detail for her character, such as the remnants of green face paint on her ear from playing the green witch in Wicked! Rebecca Hayward brought a naivety to the role of Alice Acorn, a young witch with traditional ways and an attachment to her broom, Brian. Ethel Eggplant was portrayed by Glenda Biggs, she had the audience empathising with the loss of her beloved owl Oliver, especially when the “owl au vents” were served. The character Florence Flowerpot was brought to life by Kerry-Ann Reece-McCormack who portrayed character as a frustrated author, angry at Zelda for plagiarising her book of spells. Finally, in Act Two, the audience were introduced to Zelda’s cousin, Anges Crimp (Charlene Clarke). Charlene brought an air of importance to her role, playing detective for her cousin’s death. Each of the characters were vastly different and this was displayed through the acting as well as the costumes, bringing authenticity to each character’s personality. 

The play ended with a specially written song, it was clear during this performance that the cast had great chemistry and had really worked well as a team to bring this play to life. 

Having had a break from directing Adrian Cale has returned with this murderous new comedy. His direction made good use of the stage, scenery and props. The stage was set to reflect a meeting in a village hall, it was simple yet effective. No microphones were used for individual characters, but they also weren’t needed. The cast were able to project their voices and could be heard by the whole audience.  

The lighting, provided by Flic Jones and Dave Jones, was simple throughout which complimented the natural setting of the village hall meeting. I liked the use of the red lighting to add extra depth on the announcement of Zelda’s murder.  

The pace of the performance was kept steady throughout however, the prompt was used a couple of times although this didn’t detract from the overall performance. 

© NODA CIO. All rights reserved. 

© NODA CIO. All rights reserved.