Akbar ShakoorPlay CritiqueIntroduction to Theatre Arts- Waylon Lenk

Witchcraft by Joanna Baillie at the Airmid Theatre

Airmid Theatre is different from others in that it specializes in plays written by women dramatists. I was very pleased to learn this since historically most playwrights are male. Witchcraft takes place in 1734 in Renfreshire, Scotland, during a time at which it was very easy to accuse women of witchcraft and black magic and have them burned at the stake as a result.Upon entering the room I was a little disappointed. I had basically walked into an old classroom without a stage to perform on. It was a found space. There was no scenery or lighting except for the fluorescent lights in the ceiling of the classroom. There was no sound either, which was rather disappointing; they could have at least used a laptop or speakers to help set the mood of the play. There was a narrator that read out loud the names of the acts, parts and the intermission. He also read out loud what the scenery would be like. Costumes were very limited; the actors and actresses were in semi-appropriate attire, and I say this because some of the actors were in business-casual attire the duration of the play. They did, however, use some props to signify role change since the actors and actresses were portraying multiple characters in the play; for example, one actress played both Lady Dungarren (a main character) and Grizeld Bane (a witch) and showed this transformation by wearing a very large scarf when she played the witch. It did help the audience know who was speaking, though.Although there was a lack of a stage, scenery, lighting and a lack of good costumes what was impressive was the acting itself. The characters were superb in their portrayal of Scottish folk from the olden times. They were wonderful at demonstrating strong Scottish accents. If I had met one of the characters in daily life and they spoke with their Scottish accent I would actually believe that they were from Renfreshire. Ellen Distasis portrayal of the witch was outstanding; she spoke with much clarity and the facial expressions she used gave me the creeps, which I thoroughly appreciated. Her acting reminded me of what I think the witches in Macbeth would have sounded and acted like. Still though, it was a little difficult to understand what was being said at times, because the play itself was written in the early 1800s and people spoke and wrote prose differently back then. I feel like there was excess verbiage but I suppose the play would not be the same without it. Although I was initially disappointed with the setup of the play the acting itself was very good and made up for all the other shortcomings. The actors and actresses seemed to love what they were doing and it helped them depict their characters better and definitely I felt that, and in my opinion that is the most impressive aspect of this play. I would not recommend this play at Airmid Theatre for a novice theatre-goer who is more likely to notice a pretty background or lighting effects, which I feel like I am. I would recommend this play to anyone that truly loves theatre for what it should be: performers BEING the characters rather than ACTING like them.