The devil is working overtime in Renaissance's dark comedy 'Witch'
The slick devil buying up human souls in "Witch" has never encountered anyone like Elizabeth Sawyer before. Hearing his patter, she finds it wanting.
"Pitch it to me the way you'd pitch it to a man," she tells him.
Renaissance Theaterworks opened its new production of Jen Silverman's mordantly funny and pessimistic comedy Sunday evening. In "Witch," Silverman has revamped an obscure 17th-century play, keeping its aristocratic class struggle but writing contemporary dialogue.
This play's Edmonton is no Lake Wobegon. The men are foolish monomaniacs; the women are smarter and see life more clearly but can do almost nothing to change it.
The Renaissance production is perfectly cast. Marti Gobel is the flinty Elizabeth, a middle-aged outcast who lives in a hut and is shunned by townsfolk. No one pays real attention to her until Scratch (Neil Brookshire) turns up to buy souls. He styles himself as a merchant of hope who fulfills wishes.
If you've read C.S. Lewis' "The Screwtape Letters," this play and Brookshire's funny performance will bring it back to mind. He's a fast-rising junior in a bureaucratic organization, exuding charm and skilled at drawing out the irresistible desires of his clientele.
The townsfolk would make a good soap opera cast: wealthy widower Sir Arthur (Reese Madigan), still talking with a portrait of his late wife; his son Cuddy (James Carrington), obsessed with Morris dancing (a recurring source of humor) and unlikely to produce a desired heir; ambitious, obsequious Frank Thorney (Joe Picchetti), who has wormed his way into Sir Arthur's graces; and serving woman Winnifred (Eva Nimmer), secretly married to Frank. In closing deals to buy two of their souls, Scratch agrees to grant wishes that will interlock with maximum destructiveness.
But in a series of smart conversations, Brookshire's devil and Gobel's pariah move well beyond the transactional. No one has listened to her like this in ages, and she warms to it. In turn, she often gets Socratic with this perky salesman, leading him to a fuller if not happier understanding. Their final conversation reveals which one has the darker view of human folly and what should be done about it.
Suzan Fete directed this remarkable show, with crucial atmospheric help from sound designer Josh Schmidt and lighting designer Noele Stollmack.
If you go
Renaissance Theaterworks performs "Witch" through Nov. 12 at 255 S. Water St. For tickets, visit r-t-w.com or call (414) 278-0765.
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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Renaissance Theaterworks' dark comedy 'Witch' mocks human folly
