Wyrd Sisters

Wyrd Sisters is Terry Pratchett's sixth of many Discworld novels of which Stephen Briggs adapted for the stage.  Based on William Shakespeare’s Macbeth this play has it all three witches, a wicked duke and duchess, the ghost of a murdered king, silly soldiers and a land in peril due to all of the above.

The witches at the centre of this play are all that can save the land form its terrible fate. The King's crown and baby child are given to the three witches. The witches hand the child to a travelling couple and then hide the crown in a props-box. They explain that destiny will eventually take its course and that the boy, Tomjon, will grow up to defeat the Duke and take his rightful place as king, as the people of the Kingdom are unhappy with how they are being treated.

The witches soon come to realise that it will be at least 15 years until Tomjon is able to return and save the kingdom from the evil Duke. The witches notice that by then the damage would have been done and they manage to cast a spell over the entire kingdom to freeze it in time for 15 years. Just before the kingdom was frozen the king had sent his fool to recruit some actors and a playwright to perform, showing him to be a good man and the witches evil.

As they began to perform the play the guards by order of the Duke capture the female actors playing the witches thinking they were real witches mean while a spell is cast causing the actors to tell the real story of how the king was killed. The Duke fell to his death and the Duchess escaped but was eaten by forest animals. The witches explain that Tomjon is due to be king but Tomjon doesn’t want to be, he would like to carry on with his career of being an actor. The witches then proceed to tell the kingdom that the fool is in fact Tomjon’s half brother and he succeeds in taking to the throne.

The play shows the audience how words can become reality, with the fools wise words "the past is what people remember, and memories are words’’ ringing in your ears.

This was a brave choice of play by Oswaldtwistle players due to a large number of reasons. Firstly there was a large cast required of which meant some cast members on the odd occasion had to double up on character roles. This said it was nice to see that a society can put on a play that requires a big cast and that a society have so many people who can perform on stage. This play also requires a large number of set changes in order to portray the story correctly which the society did. In addition, a large amount of costumes were worn throughout the play, which were colourful and apt for the time period which the play was set.

It was also a directorial debut for Martina Burns of whom I think did a splendid job considering the size of the production. The play was also performed in local accents which was a nice touch and was well received by the audience. The punch lines were delivered well and these were championed with laughter through-out the audience all night long. The society should be proud of all that made this production a reality, from the front of house, to the back stage crew and of course the large cast. I look forward to visiting Oswaldtwistle players again in the near future.

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