"Teaching Witchcraft," (2003) is a black comedy adapted from the writings of the 15th-century Roman Catholic Inquisitors; specifically "Malleus Maleficarum," usually translated as the Hammer of Witches, is the best-known and the most important treatise on witchcraft. It was written by a Catholic clergyman and it endorses the extermination of witches. "Teaching Witchcraft" is hilarious, yet chilling. A portrayal of Blessed Heinrich the Great explains the worldwide conspiracy of witches and justifies his "final solution."
"Keir Cutler is wonderful in this one-man play portraying a 15th-century priest dedicated to eliminating witchcraft; the audience is the class and he's the teacher explaining the devious ways of witchery. While the spectators get to laugh at the hilarious script and the avuncular Cutler, this play is as much about horror as it is about fun. The challenge for Cutler is to satirize the witch-hunts without diminishing the suffering of the persecuted. The play finds that balance and hammers home a message about the dangers of orthodoxy and the misogyny at work in early modern Christianity, with the audience chuckling all the way." Jay Nathwani, Eye (Toronto), July 10, 2003
20 окт 2024
