This weekend, Richmond Shakespeare opens Witch at the Theatre Gym inside the Virginia Repertory Theatre, running October 23 – November 9. Directed by longtime company associate Andrew Gall, the darkly comic play reimagines a 17th-century tale through a sharp, modern lens asking what we give up to get what we want, and what it costs to be ourselves in a world built on compromise.
Playwright Jen Silverman based Witch on The Witch of Edmonton, a Jacobean drama first staged in 1621 about a real woman, Elizabeth Sawyer, who was tried and executed for witchcraft in England. But Silverman strips the original down to its emotional core: a clash between the Devil and an outcast woman who refuses to sell her soul.
“I think, the original play was the first time a ‘witch’ was portrayed as sympathetic,” Gall says. “Silverman took that and made it sleek and modern, an argument between the Devil, who’s not used to hearing the word no, and a woman who’s decided to show up authentically, no matter the cost.”
Gall, who has been directing for more than three decades, describes Witch as “darkly comic and satiric rather than horror.” The humor, he says, “comes from discomfort and the pain of recognition, seeing ourselves in these people.”
The play’s questions feel distinctly of the moment: “Who really wins under capitalism? What happens if you get everything you want? What does it mean to live authentically when the system punishes you for it?” Gall asks. “It’s funny, fascinating, and absolutely relevant.”
Like Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, Witch uses the past to reflect the present. “People 400 years ago needed the same things we need now, to be seen, affirmed, to have meaningful work and community,” Gall says. “Those core human needs haven’t changed.”
The intimate cast of six features Katrinah Carol Lewis as Elizabeth Sawyer and John Mincks as Scratch, the Devil. “They’re phenomenally talented,” Gall says. “They show up with ideas. They’re smart, creative, and part of the reason Richmond’s theater scene punches above its weight.”
He adds that Witch continues Richmond Shakespeare’s commitment to language-driven performance. “The company prioritizes plays that use language inventively,” he says. “This one does. The dialogue sounds contemporary, complete with sarcasm, profanity, and rhythm but it’s crafted beautifully.”
Gall laughs when asked why people should go see live theater. “Why shouldn’t they?” he says. “Some folks think theater in Richmond means Broadway at the Altria, and there’s nothing wrong with that, but if that’s all you think theater can do, you’re missing out. Witch is visceral and intimate, you’re literally in the room with these people. No two performances are the same.”
“Theater borrows from every art form, painting, dance, film, literature, but it’s ephemeral. It only exists in the moment, in that shared breath between audience and actor,” he continues. “It’s primal. If everything collapsed tomorrow and we were back in caves, there’d still be theater people putting on a show.”
“I hope people walk away with something they didn’t have before, an understanding that means something to them,” Gall says. “Plays only exist in memory, in the after-breath. If Witch gives you something to think about, some curiosity that deepens your own insight, then it’s done its job.”
What: Witch by Jen Silverman, directed by Andrew Gall
Presented by: Richmond Shakespeare
When: October 23 – November 9, 2025
Where: Theatre Gym, Virginia Repertory Theatre (114 W Broad St, Richmond)
Tickets: richmondshakespeare.org/witch
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