'The Witches' is entertaining and mysterious

Although witches, ghosts, and other eerie creatures seen on Halloween were most likely kids enjoying the holiday, the Episcopal Academy effectively brought the Halloween season's entertaining and mysterious nature to life with their rendition of Road Dahl's book, The Witches. Adapted by David Wood for the stage, the play is set in England where an orphaned boy learns about the sinister nature of witches from his grandmother. Her frightening stories become an unpleasant reality for the boy when he encounters a congregation of witches at the hotel he is staying in.

Being able to effectively utilize the entire space of a black box theatre to its full potential can certainly prove to be challenging, but the actors found unique and creative ways to incorporate different levels and set pieces that greatly enhanced their performances. There was clearly a sense of cohesion between the cast, who brought fantastic energy to highlight the wonderful set and space around them.

While the lead actors helped progress the story and gave respectable performances, the show's success stemmed from enthusiastic performances by the ensembles of Bellhops, Maids, and most significantly, the Witches. Leading the group of witches was the Grand High Witch (Emma Smith) whose expressive gesticulations and passion helped create a dynamic, enthralling character. The Bellhops and Maids worked well together as narrators to embed a layer of comedy into an otherwise dramatic fantasy.

Bruno Jenkins (Alex Burman) is the pretentious friend of Boy, whose obsessive, appalling appetite was the most amusing aspect of the production. Burman embraced the character and his comedic performance helped create a successful dynamic for the actors surrounding him. The Concierge's (Leach Marchant) two dance numbers sparked excitement and energy, helping establish a lighthearted aura to a play surrounded by mystery. In addition, she added whimsical choreography to a scene where the bellhops were setting up chairs, making an otherwise uneventful transition become playful and unique.

Technically, the show enjoyed tremendous success, and it was the most intriguing facet of the production, significantly enhancing the performances on stage. Although simple, the set, consisting of four curtains connected to pillars shaped in an arc, was appealing and helped incorporate all areas of the stage. The use of projections (designed by Melina Walling and Paloma Zozaya) illuminated on the curtains between scenes as transition pieces provided an exceptional display of creativity and was the most memorable aspect of the production. Sound (Gossen Yang) choices helped build a spooky, mysterious atmosphere crucial to the success of the story. The marketing and publicity team (Alex Viscusi and Kory Shore) added another inventive element by designing posters with cast members photo shopped to look even more magical and unnatural. Although only a few defining features of the technical design are mentioned, each facet of technical theatre was executed well and proved to be the most successful component of The Witches.

Overall, the Episcopal Academy's production was satisfactory and executed well, accurately reflecting the enjoyable, supernatural features of Halloween.