Witches Corner
★★★★☆ Defiant
theSpace @ Surgeons’ Hall (Venue 53): Mon 17 – Sat 22 Aug 2026
Review by Rebecca Mahar
Magic or misogyny? asks Witches Corner, a new sociopolitical play from Encapulus Productions that packs laughter, rage, song, and grief into an hour that questions how much has really changed for women since they were burned and hanged and stoned as witches.
The play, written and directed by Eilidh Smith with music composed by Rona Johnston, is set in Pittenweem in Fife, a “bonnie wee toon where awbody kens awbody and awbody kens awbody’s business.”
A scene from the preview performance of Witches Corner at the Scottish Storytelling Centre. Pic Alastair Moore.
Witches Corner opens in a time close to the present day, where Amy (Katrina Hamilton Smith) is preparing the head off to Edinburgh for uni, and leave the place where “your neighbours become your gran— aunties, even though you’re no related. It’s haim.” She’s also campaigning for the removal of a cartoonish witch mural, which naturally leads into conversation with her adopted auntie Helen (Lorna McFarlane) about Pittenweem’s past and those who were persecuted there for witchcraft.
accusations
Here the story splits, and the cast take up roles of figures from the 1704 Pittenweem witch trials, spurred by accusations from the sixteen year old blacksmith Patrick Morton (also Smith) and vicious prosecution from minister Patrick Couper (Alannah Skellett).
Witches Corner flits between past and present, illustrating the reality behind the infamy that inspired the gaudy mural, and how the women of the present can fight for the memory of those in the past who had no such opportunity and freedom— until a cruel twist of fate calls into question whether the passage of time has really freed women from the misogynistic evil that branded them as witches.
A scene from the preview performance of Witches Corner at the Scottish Storytelling Centre. Pic Alastair Moore.
The ultimate messaging of Witches Corner couldn’t be more serious, or more timely. The misogynistic violence, domestic or otherwise, and public persecution of women of today’s world take different forms than they did in the eighteenth century, but they are no less insidious and deadly. Nevertheless, the play manages to weave in a great deal of humour along the way, which never feels forced or as if it’s making light of the subject matter at hand: laughter is as part of life as horror, and people will always find a way to see the light.
Some of these moments are patently absurd, such as the use of Doris the inflatable cow (the real star of the show, obviously), others are wry commentary, such as on Amy’s da, who “disnae know which bin gangs oot when,” and others lean into drawing the audience in, with panto-like call and response. Lorna McFarlane, who in addition to Helen plays various denizens of Pittenweem’s past, is a particular star of comic delivery and timing.
looming
Smith in the dual roles of Amy and Morton balances opposite parts in the narrative with ease. Skellett’s Couper is looming, sinister, and as hateful —and realistic— as you might expect a man in his position with his proclivities to be, with only Doris to offer a bit of relief from the horrors. Rounding out the ensemble, Sydney Mulligan, Rona Johnston, and Chloe Mutch give individuality and life to other accused witches, accusers, and bystanders
Smith’s script is a skilful piece of writing. After a bit of heavy exposition at the start it quickly finds its feet, holding well to its parallel timelines, and making canny use of Johnston’s songs which, like the humour of the show, feel as if they belong. If anything, Witches Corner could perhaps do with even greater use of its music as a diegetic device between past and present.
Witches Corner is a searing indictment, a product of both rage and defiance, and a declaration that the destruction of pyres and gibbets is not good enough when they have been replaced by other means.
Running time: 50 minutes (no interval).
theSpace @ Surgeons’ Hall (Stephenson Theatre), Surgeons Quarter, Nicolson St EH8 9DW (Venue 53).
Monday 17 – Saturday 22 August 2026.
Daily: 7.45pm.
Tickets and details: Book here at EdFringe.com.
Tickets direct from venue: Book here.
Facebook: @Encapulus-Productions
Instagram: @encapulusproductions
Linktree: @encapulusproductions.
A scene from the preview performance of Witches Corner at the Scottish Storytelling Centre. Pic Alastair Moore.
ENDS
