Witch: Press Release - July 2016

With bases in Devon and Dorset, Circle of Spears Productions is a vibrant new production house and theatre company which has just enjoyed its first year of trading. Boasting the talents and experience of a team of professional actors and film-makers, the company offers a variety of services, including audiobook production and live theatrical entertainment. Circle of Spears already has an impressive catalogue of audio products and is about to embark on its first summer season in Boscastle, Cornwall with an original, site-specific theatre piece written by company member Tracey Norman.
“I graduated from The Open University last year with an Honours degree in History,” Tracey explained. “I wanted to be able to combine my knowledge of history with my love of theatre and came up with the idea of dramatising actual transcripts from English witch trials in order to explore the social issues which contributed to accusations of witchcraft. I also wanted to find a performance space that was both intimate and evocative.

Where better to perform a play about witch trials than in the library at the Museum of Witchcraft and Magic?”. The museum’s managers were extremely enthusiastic about the proposed project, providing a number of original transcripts for the basis of Tracey’s research, as well as advice on the draft script.
​“The museum’s input has been invaluable,” Tracey said. “I selected details from a number of sources, drawing heavily on the transcripts they shared with me, then wove the information into the story of a suspected witch, her accuser and the magistrate interrogating them. This allowed me to include a lot of Tudor/Elizabethan social history whilst still focussing on the human aspects of such emotive cases.”
The company gave a test performance to the museum staff and an invited audience, which was very well received. Staff member Joyce Froome described it as having “remarkable immediacy and impact…with characters who have real depth and complexity.” Author Alex Langstone said, “I was very lucky to be invited to a preview performance of this play…and I can thoroughly recommend it.”
“Witch” is due to be performed in the library at the Museum of Witchcraft and Magic, Boscastle, Cornwall, throughout the remainder of the season on Wednesdays and Sundays at 5pm and 8pm. The first performances are on 27th July. Tickets cost £10 and are available from the Museum. For further information, including performance dates, please contact the Museum on 01840 250111.
More information about Circle of Spears Productions can be found at www.circleofspears.com and you can follow them on Facebook (Circle of Spears Productions) and Twitter (@circleofspears).