Our Drama group was asked to perform an evening of 16th century witchcraft in front of parents, friends and family, which included improvised (a piece of drama with out a set script) and scripted (with a set script) drama. .
To start of the performance we read a poem which leads us onto the main theme of the evening which was discrimination against people (mainly women) who were thought to be witches in the 16th century. People were convinced witches existed. They were accused of being witches for all different reasons such as appearance, different cultures or beliefs. .
The three main scripted plays we performed are the "Crucible" written by Arthur Miller in 1692 which is set in a bedroom, its about a young girl called Betty who is thought to be bewitched as she lay there unconscious from fainting, after she had been playing in the woods with her cousin Abigail, "Vinegar Tom" written by Carol Churchill in 1970's, is set in an in a town hall, it's about a famous finder of witches called Henry Packer who interrogates innocent people who are accused of being witches and "We three" written by Olwen Wymark in 1603, is set in a dark room, it's a scene before Macbeth about three witches called Em, goat girl and bridey, they discuss the possibilities of being free. The crucible and vinegar tom are similar as witchcraft was looked upon as being negative as people were accused of doing bad and evil things and in "We Three" it was looked upon as positive because it seems powerful.
To improve our performances we included music such as "The Witches Sabbath" written by Hectar Berlioz (a French composer) we also had good sound effects such as thunder, and in between scenes we added scripted narration to help the audience understand what the plays were about. .
For scenery we used special white and red flashing lighting and hanging ropes to give it a scary atmosphere we also used other scenery such as a bed, black screens and boxes to stand on.
