The Witches

The Cotswold Players usually perform a ‘family’ show at his time of year, not necessarily a pantomime, and this year had decided on The Witches by Roald Dahl, adapted for the stage by David Wood. For anyone who does not know the story, very simply, it is about a small boy and his Grandmother and their attempts to prevent Witches in England turning all the children into mice so that they will be killed. The story starts in Norway; they then travel by boat to England so that the boy can continue his education. They then visit The Hotel Magnificent in Bournemouth, for Grandmother to recuperate from an illness, and it is here that the main action takes place.

The set was very simplistic had been cleverly designed so that the action could move quickly between locations. There were no backcloths and very little scenery, there was a raised platform at the back, which had drapes across it most of the time, but became the boy’s tree house and the grandmother’s bedroom in the Hotel. A local illustrator had produced lovely storybook illustrations for a table lamp for grandmother’s house, a chandelier and pillars for the Hotel and an irritating seagull and buoy for the boat. The front door of the Hotel was wheeled in for that scene and then turned round for the entrance to the ballroom and the pillars, chandelier and chairs were added for the meeting. In the second act it was transformed into the dining room and a truck with a kitchen set was wheeled on so that the audience could see what was happening in the dinning room and kitchen at the same time. The stage had been well lit, and combined with some special effects and good sound cues created some memorable moments, as with the car crash and the witches melting.

The wardrobe team had put together a suitable set of costumes; I liked the simple costumes when the children had been turned into mice. The people looking after hair must have had an interesting time, as all the witches had bald heads covered by a wig, they were very effective.

The cast for this play is predominantly female, with a few male roles and several roles for children. The two principal female roles are the Grandmother and the Grand High Witch who are very different characters and need strong characterisation. The Grandmother was played as a loving caring and down to earth, not over sentimental character, there was a lovely connection between her and the Boy. The Grand High Witch was evil and scheming, very selfish and domineering, with moments of frenzied madness. There was a good contrast between them. The role of the Boy was confidently handled, he was enthralled by the stories of witches, showed curiosity to find out what they were doing, he was determined to thwart their evil plot, he showed great affection to his grandmother, and developed good ‘mouse-like’ movements. The second child was Bruna, an extremely spoilt child.  She was well portrayed as a very selfish child completely over indulged by her parents, showing some of the worse traits of her father, and always eating. Again she developed good movements when she became a mouse. Her parents Mr and Mrs Jenkins were not very pleasant people and you could see why their daughter was as she was. Their reaction to finding that their daughter was now a mouse was lovely. The scene in the kitchen with the chefs was pure slapstick, very funny and well timed, the children and young at heart loved it. The witches all looked a little different from ‘normal’ people but not enough to draw attention to themselves. They were completely dominated by the Grand High Witch and showed their fear of her well. All other roles were confidently played.

Director Robert Mauler had interpreted the script well and had led his team of actors and technicians skilfully, to bring this well loved story, by Roald Dahl, to the stage.  Children enjoy watching scary and disgusting things and these were delivered in just the right amounts. The children sitting in front of me were totally enthralled throughout. 

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