Weary from my excursion up to Duryard and wielding a Snickers bar, I headed to Kay House to catch the final performance of Shotgun Theatre’s The Witches of Eastwick.
Set in the fictional Rhode Island town of Eastwick, the Witches of Eastwick is based around three female protagonists, the ‘Witches’ Alexandra Spofford, Jane Smart, and Sukie Rougemont, who share a desire for the devil-like Daryll Van Horne. The antagonist encourages them to embrace their inner powers and eventually corrupts them. Sex and seduction are key themes throughout the production and it doesn’t lose its enthrallingly dark sexuality at all.
In terms of plot, The Witches of Eastwick is straightforward and a little more Simply Pleasure than Shakespeare. Considering that the plot was simple, the musical could have been about three quarters of its total length; watching three sex scenes back-to-back for about 30 minutes did grow a little bit tiresome. The whole attitude surrounding the production was commendable, however: it never tried to be something it wasn’t; it never tried ramming pseudo-intellectual messages down our throats; it was just a darkly funny and enjoyable musical.
The casting was generally top notch. The ensemble was a little bit mix-and-match and could have done with a few more people in it but, nonetheless, was made up of very good singers. I was particularly impressed at how many of the minor roles and members of the ensemble managed to project the personalities of their parts despite not actually having many lines. Particular praise goes Andrew Sharpe who, at times, managed to suggest he’d just accidently wandered onto the stage and gone along with it. This somehow made the ensemble parts equally as entertaining as the main cast; there was never a boring lull as we waited for the action to start up again.
The star of the show, for me, was the bombastic Olivia Conroy as Felicia Gabriel, the self-appointed First Lady of Eastwick. She managed to dominate the stage, no matter who else was on it and her personality hit you like a bulldozer. Naturally, she was very annoying; it was like listening to your irritating aunt harangue you for three hours with no means of escape. This is, by no means, a criticism. In fact, it is quite the opposite. There was nothing pantomime about her performance, despite the fact that it often looked like her head was going to swell to the point where it popped and sweets rained all over the audience. I can only see her doing well, and best of luck to her.
Leading man, Ben Jackson, was not quite as talented vocally as I might have liked to see from such a prominent figure. However, for someone that does not actually study drama, I was impressed by how well he adapted to his debut role. Again adopting a wicked character (there’s a trend there), Jackson managed to slap a perpetual look of menace on his face. The character of Darryl Van Horne is a callous, scheming one and Jackson made no qualms about it; we knew from the very start that this was the antagonist and he oozed sadistic charisma throughout the whole performance. His accent erred off slightly and his fake playing of the violin was a bit awkward but it’s not really important overall.
The choreography was good, although it was clear that some of the cast members were not natural dancers. Likewise, I found that the minimalistic set design suited the nature of the play very well in most cases. The lack of set, however, was made up for by tactical uses of lighting; you know a good technician when he can make a mediocre room in Kay House light up like a West-End show. I think, with a bit of tweaking, the production would have been even more powerful at the Northcott Theatre.
The Witches of Eastwick was a glorious success and a tremendous display of talent that we have to offer. University can be a suffocating place sometimes and this production casts away the intellectual bullshit. It’s refreshing to know that there’s a place for good, old-fashioned fun and The Witches of Eastwick was, if anything, very good fun.
