Witches Can’t be Burned by Silva Semerciyan

Witnessed by a small, socially distanced audience of parents (and a lucky Noda Youth Co-ordinator).  The Youth Tree Youth Theatre National Theatre Connections production of ‘Witches Can’t be Burned’ was an extremely welcome return to live theatre.

The play, written by Silva Semerciyan, was skilfully presented by this talented group of young people who portrayed both the characters in ‘St Pauls School’ and the characters within Arthur Miller’s Crucible as the plot is based around ‘a play within a play’.  The storyline considers how the young people and their teachers approach a production of The Crucible to be entered into the important local ‘Playfest’.  Addressing a wide range of themes including trust, bullying, gender inequality, fear and the teenage challenges of friendships, school, family, loyalty along with the impending transition into ‘adulthood’.   The characters seek to sabotage the play they have been given to perform and ultimately introduce a new court scene which delights the judges and results in St Pauls School winning the Playfest.  However the actions of the protagonists don’t go unnoticed by the school staff, but to prevent any punishment being administered the cast invoke a Spartacus moment to share responsibility.

The whole cast gave very competent performances, with clear projection and excellent vocal delivery which was important as there was no sound enhancement.  There were some challenging lines particularly in the scene considering ‘blind adherence to convention’ which these young actors did not stumble over.  There was some wonderful choral ‘screeching’ as part of The Crucible play rehearsals and the angst of the young people torn between their desire to perform and the storyline which portrayed girls and young women as crazed harlots was tangible.

Every performer should take credit for this production along with their Director Sarah Osborne, but it would be remiss of me not to mention the strength of performance given by Chloe Watson as Anunka/Abigail.  This was a very demanding role which this young actor successfully managed.  She was well supported by Connor Monkman playing Sam and I was impressed by the portrayal of Grace by Lucy Gallivan.  Arwen Dale (Miss Alexi), Callum Monkman (Mr Briggs) and Ellie Peter (Ms Thrower) had the challenge of playing the ‘adult’ teachers which they handled very well.  I also noted the antagonistic performances by Becca Bradley, Maddie Mersini and Violet Glendhill as the Prefects.

The wardrobe scene where the boys were challenged to wear dresses by the girls was very entertaining.  I also particularly enjoyed the scene towards the end of the production where the cast members utilised dramatic movement set to music to demonstrate their anger against the texts of The Crucible. 

The large open space was well used by the performers.  There were swift scene changes by the cast who successfully managed to capture the required settings with limited costumes and props.   The production was supported with atmospheric music, particularly at the scene changes and climax of the production – this most definitely built anticipation.  Well done to Sound Engineer, Samantha Kirk, whose timing was excellent.

Congratulations to everyone involved – a challenging and dramatic production which provided thought provoking entertainment.

For anyone who would like to experience the online video this can be accessed @weareyewtree facebook group.

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