Love in the Time of Witchcraft
by Michael Dresdner
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| L to R: Victoria Ashley (Gillian), Jed Slaughter (Shepherd) All photos by Dennis K Photography |
Just in time for Halloween, Tacoma Little Theatre’s
second play of its 100th year is Bell, Book, and Candle, a 1950s era
romantic dramedy with a witch as its main character. As it was written, it was
set in New York’s Greenwich Village, then a hotbed of artistic eccentricity.
This production moves it to the more upscale Murray Hill neighborhood in the
late 1960s, though I’m not sure why.
Gillian Holroyd (Victoria Ashley) is a beautiful,
statuesque witch with a cat named Pyewacket as her familiar. She, her Aunt
Queenie (Wendy Cohen) and her brother Nicky (Max Christofferson) all have
magical powers that they use with surprising frequency for thoroughly selfish
reasons.
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| L to R: Victoria Ashley (Gillian), Max Christofferson (Nicky), Wendy Cohen (Queenie) |
For instance, she causes her hapless neighbor and tenant,
Sheppard Henderson (Jed Slaughter) to fall irrationally in love with her. She
does this not because she loves him, (witches, we are told, can’t fall in love)
but merely because she finds him interesting and wants to break up his imminent
engagement to a woman she hated in college. This seems a far cry from the
behavior of the real Wicca community.
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| Victoria Ashley (Gillian), Jed Slaughter (Shepherd) |
She, Nicky, and Queenie proceed to use magic spells to
upend Shepherd’s life while she keeps him in thrall, both physically and
emotionally. Gillian does this with the help of her familiar, a real live cat
who was surprisingly cooperative on stage. A minor complication comes in the
form of Sidney Redlitch (Mike Storslee), an “expert” who writes books exposing the
existence of modern day witchcraft.
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| L to R: Mike Storslee (Redlitch), Victoria Ashley (Gillian) |
The fly in the ointment is that if witches fall in love,
they lose their magical powers. It takes most of the play for Gillian to figure
out that she loves Shepherd enough to give up her “charmed” life in order to be
with him. But by then it may be too late; he’s aware that he’s been manipulated
by a real witch.
There are some excellent actors on stage working with a
production, directed by Brett Carr, that is heavy on dialogue and low on
action. They’re backed up with flawless technical support.
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| The set |
The set, by Blake York with dressing and props by Jeffrey
Weaver and amazing painting by Jen York, is beyond gorgeous. Heck, even I would
like to live in that apartment. It’s worth seeing this play just for the set,
but it doesn’t end there. Costumes by Michele Graves are impressive, as is
lighting by Niclas Olson. Considering all the difficulties of this production, stage
manager Nena Curley also deserves a nod, as does Pyewacket’s trainer, Alyshia
Collins.
But can we digress a little? If you’ll allow me a bit of armchair
analysis, what bothered me about this play was a dark undercurrent of 50s
sensibility – or lack thereof – concerning the “battle of the sexes.” Women in
general, it was felt in some quarters, were mysterious and had sexual power over
men who were in turn powerless to control their behavior. The most chilling aspect
of that common mindset was that once she falls in love, a woman (in this case
Gillian) loses all her power.
Perhaps it’s best not to think about it too deeply and
instead go with the conceit that this is merely a fanciful journey into “Love,
Witchcraft Style.”
Bell, Book, and Candle
Oct 26 to Nov 11, 2018
Tacoma Little Theatre
