Coven at Kiln Theatre

"Like Shakespeare's Macbeth, Coven opens with the voices of (so-called) witches. Like Macbeth, it speaks strongly to audiences' obsession with pagan magic and fallen' women. But where Shakespeare's pillar of theatre bends to tastes for sinister femininity, from its first beat, Coven reverts and resists the doctrine of witch hunting with energetic, women-led lyricism. We meet the accused Jenet Device as Gabrielle Brooks (Comedy of Errors) just as she's incarcerated. Device joins other imprisoned women, all denounced, like the Pendle victims, for witchcraft."

"These women transform into musical bards singing folk-rock ballads of betrayals, setups and sexual exploitation at the hands of men. There's the healer, Maggie acted by Jacinta Whyte (Juno and the Paycock) who treats other prisoners' ailments with plants (and comically poisons the prison guard). The midwife, Nell Allyson Ava-Brown (Hamilton) who delivers a baby in the second act. And Penny Laden (The Ocean at the End of the Lane) as a mother with her pregnant daughter Lauryn Redding (Standing at the Sky's Edge) "

"Coven fixates on internalised misogyny and contested femininity, not easy solidarities. It's a musical history about how witchcraft was used as a tactic, a tool, a masculine construction designed to silence women. We learn through comic songs about James I's Witchcraft Act of 1604, or the 1486 Catholic treatise on witchcraft. So-called sorcery is never mystified for the sake of dramatic tension. This is critical social commentary of great stature."

Coven opens with the voices of accused witches and centers incarcerated women denounced for witchcraft. Characters include Jenet Device, healer Maggie, midwife Nell, and a mother Penny Laden with her pregnant daughter Lauryn Redding, who was raped and silenced by a powerful landowner. The women perform folk-rock ballads recounting betrayals, setups, sexual exploitation, and historical instruments like James I's Witchcraft Act of 1604 and the 1486 Catholic treatise. The production resists mystifying sorcery and positions witchcraft accusations as a masculine construction to control and silence women. The tone balances comic songs with critical social commentary and complex portrayals of internalised misogyny.

Read at www.london-unattached.com