The Witch of Edmonton, RSC Swan - theatre review: 'Eileen Atkins radiates intelligence and scepticism'

Eileen Atkins returns to the RSC after 17 years, as the disdainful and indignant as Mother Sawyer, accused of witchcraft by her neighbours
Let’s hex: Mother Sawyer (Eileen Atkins) turns on her neighbours after being accused of witchcraft / Pic: Geraint Lewis
Geraint Lewis
Henry Hitchings30 October 2014

Eileen Atkins returns to the Royal Shakespeare Company, after a 17-year absence, in this domestic drama dating from the 1620s. A performer who radiates intelligence and scepticism, she's disdainful and indignant as Mother Sawyer, accused of witchcraft by her neighbours. Friendless and excluded, she gets her revenge by embracing the opportunities for mischief proposed by the devil — who appears to her as Tom, a black mongrel.

As this detail suggests, the play is bizarre. It is the work of at least three authors — the ones traditionally identified are John Ford, Thomas Dekker and William Rowley, though elements seem to have been contributed by others. Its themes are weighty — community, crime, guilt, malice, repentance — but at times it swerves into wild comedy.

As it transpires, Mother Sawyer doesn’t exert a great deal of influence on the people around her, who appear perfectly capable of engineering their own damnation. This is especially true of weak-willed Frank Thorney, who marries two women, tries to run off with the second one’s dowry, and turns on her when she pursues him. Ian Bonar makes him interestingly complex, and there’s incisive work from Faye Castelow as his anxious second wife, while Jay Simpson’s nearly naked devil-dog is a lurking presence, coming into his own when he provokes a burst of frantic morris dancing.

This production completes the RSC’s Roaring Girls season, which has probed the relationship between power and gender and celebrated some of the lesser-known but substantial female parts in Elizabethan and Jacobean plays. Gregory Doran’s lucid interpretation ultimately feels a bit unadventurous, and the by no means huge role of Mother Sawyer seems an odd vehicle for Dame Eileen. Yet for me there is a tiny but indelible moment of magic when, bowed by her abusers’ onslaught, she suddenly leans back as if recoiling from the stench of their stupidity.

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Until November 29 (0844 800 1110, rsc.org.uk)

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