This occult comedy of manners follows Laura Willowes, a spinster, as she does everything possible to get her family to leave her alone – including making a deal with Satan. Adapted from the 1926 novel Lolly Willowes; or The Loving Huntsman by Sylvia Townsend Warner, this bone dry comedy is a rallying cry for women who’ve done more than their fair share of emotional labor and a celebration of the joys of solitude.
Why We Become Witches
Reviews
Motzenbacker directs a strong, airtight ship, even gracing the stage with the sort of quaint, provincial design work you might find in a Wes Anderson movie or a production of The Wind in the Willows, covering the stage with dried flowers and often presenting scenes over afternoon tea. Having never heard of the author Sylvia Townsend Warner before, this reviewer was certainly moved to look her up after seeing this show.
Running at about 40 minutes, Why We Become Witches is a plum choice for the high-brow fringe-goers who seek dramatic stakes without tragedy and comedy without buffoonery. I recommend this show.
Definitely check this one out during the Encore run. It is worth your time.
Not only can you feel the disappointment and struggles she faces on the daily, but you can see into her good heart by the positive comedic responses she has at times.
This is a faithful, delightful distillation of Sylvia Townsend Warner's much-loved novel Lolly Willowes. Lolly's gentle flowering into witchcraft has as much to do with the Celtic Green Man as with Satan. And by her tale's end, she's diffidently voicing critiques of patriarchy as trenchant as any by Virginia Woolf or Germaine Greer.
Motzenbacker directs a strong, airtight ship, even gracing the stage with the sort of quaint, provincial design work you might find in a Wes Anderson movie or a production of The Wind in the Willows, covering the stage with dried flowers and often presenting scenes over afternoon tea. Having never heard of the author Sylvia Townsend Warner before, this reviewer was certainly moved to look her up after seeing this show.
Running at about 40 minutes, Why We Become Witches is a plum choice for the high-brow fringe-goers who seek dramatic stakes without tragedy and comedy without buffoonery. I recommend this show.
Definitely check this one out during the Encore run. It is worth your time.
Not only can you feel the disappointment and struggles she faces on the daily, but you can see into her good heart by the positive comedic responses she has at times.
This is a faithful, delightful distillation of Sylvia Townsend Warner's much-loved novel Lolly Willowes. Lolly's gentle flowering into witchcraft has as much to do with the Celtic Green Man as with Satan. And by her tale's end, she's diffidently voicing critiques of patriarchy as trenchant as any by Virginia Woolf or Germaine Greer.