{"id":306540,"date":"2026-10-14T15:52:14","date_gmt":"2026-10-14T15:52:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/306540\/"},"modified":"2026-10-14T15:52:14","modified_gmt":"2026-10-14T15:52:14","slug":"witch-a-dark-comedy-that-asks-a-perennial-question","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/306540\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Witch\u2019 – a dark comedy that asks a perennial question"},"content":{"rendered":"

Abdul Sesay (As Frank Thorney), Imani Lee Williams (As Winnifred). Photo by Linda Johnson.<\/p>\n

By Constance Garcia-Barrio<\/p>\n

What would you want in exchange for your soul?<\/p>\n

A bravura production of \u201cWitch\u201d by the Quintessence Theatre Group invites one to consider that question. The play, making its Philadelphia premiere, is on stage now at the Sedgwick Theatre, 7137 Germantown Avenue.<\/p>\n

Written by novelist, poet, and playwright Jen Silverman, \u201cWitch\u201d dives into themes of power, violence, sexuality, and gender expression.<\/p>\n

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Trevor William Fayle (As Cuddy Banks), Steven Rishard* (As Sir Arthur Banks), Abdul Sesay (As Frank Thorney), Imani Lee Williams (As Winnifred). Photo by Linda Johnson.<\/p>\n

\u201cWitch\u201d also centers an outcast\u2019s point of view. \u201cThis season is dedicated to the \u2018outsiders,\u2019 people who through their own choice or due to the dictates of society, have found themselves existing outside of the mainstream\u2026,\u201d said Alex Burns, producing artistic director of Quintessence. \u201cIt seemed like a necessary theme for our [17th] season was we witness an ever-growing number of people who feel alienated or like outsiders in their own community and life.\u201d<\/p>\n

In \u201cWitch,\u201d set in an indefinite past, the devil, (Frank Jimenez), who goes by Scratch, arrives in Edmonton, a semi-rural village. Seductive, handsome, and oozing charm, Scratch tries to entice Elizabeth (Suli Holum), the reputed witch, into selling her soul. Elizabeth, once the lover of Sir Arthur Banks (Steven Rishard), a wealthy, powerful man, tasted a life of riches during their affair. Now villagers see her as a dangerous woman who lives in a rustic cottage.<\/p>\n

With Scratch\u2019s help, Elizabeth could avenge herself on the people who ostracize her. Scratch says:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Frank Jimenez (As Scratch, the devil). Photo by Linda Johnson.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe villagers who are cruel to you? Make a list. Their cows get pox. Girls who giggle behind their hands? Warts on the hands. I mean, it all sort of depends on you, at that point.\u201c<\/p>\n

When Elizabeth says no, despite her grudges and loneliness, Scratch heads for Sir Arthur\u2019s castle. There, Scratch makes a deal with Frank Thorney (Abdul Sesay), an ambitious young prot\u00e9g\u00e9 of Sir Arthur. However, Frank, a farmer\u2019s son who has enjoyed Sir Arthur\u2019s largesse, living in the castle for five years, stands on shaky ground. When Sir Arthur dies, Frank could be booted out. Hungering for land, wealth, and security, Frank sells his soul in order to be Sir Arthur\u2019s heir.<\/p>\n

Frank is secretly married to Winnifred (Imani Lee Williams), who has become a servant in Sir Arthur\u2019s castle to be near Frank.<\/p>\n

To further complicate things, Sir Arthur already has an heir: his son, Cuddy Banks (Trevor William Fayle). Cuddy, who is gay, devotes himself to morris-dancing, a traditional English folk dance. In Cuddy, Scratch finds another eager client. \u201cYou can have my soul,\u201d Cuddy says. \u201cI want you to kill Frank.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we can make that work,\u201d Scratch said.<\/p>\n

Those bargains sealed, Scratch returns to Elizabeth to take another crack at persuading her. He\u2019s intrigued by Elizabeth, one of his few failures in eons. Things develop in a surprising way.<\/p>\n

The whole cast gave superb performances. Jimenez as the devil stood out, with exquisite command of every gesture and shading of voice.<\/p>\n

The cast deftly handled challenges. In the early scenes, Winnifred, waiting on the men at a meal, doesn\u2019t speak, but does conveys her feelings clearly through a tightening face or shifting shoulder.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Suli Holum (As Elizabeth Sawyer, the witch), Frank Jimenez (As Scratch, the devil). Photo by Linda Johnson.<\/p>\n

Abdul Sesay\u2019s character, Frank, makes despicable choices. Sesay achieves the delicate balance needed to humanize Frank even as he casts aside the love of his life. \u201cFrank is a social climber, and the audience must understand his choices,\u201d Sesay said, who began acting in high school when a friend literally took him by the hand to an audition.<\/p>\n

Sesay\u2019s background helps him inhabit different characters. \u201cMy parents are from Sierra Leone,\u201d said New Jersey native Sesay. His African cultural heritage combined with navigating life in the U.S. provides a dual perspective. \u201c[My background] gives me a sense of empathy for the other,\u201d he said. \u201cTypically, I end up liking the characters I play.\u201d<\/p>\n

Humor \u2013sometimes with a sad edge\u2014adds to the play\u2019s brisk pace. When Winnifred, serving the men a sumptuous meal, hears Frank, her secret husband, deny that they are married, she pours a liqueur in his lap, then says it was an accident.<\/p>\n

In other scenes, the audience learns that Scratch is one of many devils assigned to buy souls. At one point he slips up and forgets to have the seller sign the contract.<\/p>\n

The set cleverly emphasizes windows; they were a measure of wealth in times past, program notes say. Sir Arthur\u2019s castle has a large arched window while others hang from the ceiling.<\/p>\n

Stories of pacts with the devil date back to at least the sixth century, historians say. \u201cWitch,\u201d is based on the 1621 of Elizabeth Sawyer. Charged with using witchcraft to kill her neighbor, Agnes Ratcleife, Sawyer was hanged. English dramatists Thomas Dekker, John Ford, and William Rowley collaborated on \u201cThe Witch of Edmonton,\u201d written soon after Sawyer\u2019s execution.<\/p>\n

Closer to home, it was rumored that the lure of fame and fortune led blues guitarist Robert Johnson (1911-1938), to bargain away his soul. In a midnight meeting at a Mississippi crossroads, the devil tuned and strummed Johnson\u2019s guitar, the story goes, thus conferring on Johnson otherworldly musicianship.<\/p>\n

Quintessence brings audiences Jen Silverman\u2019s brisk-paced contemporary take on an idea that has long fascinated humans. Abdul Sesay made a thoughtful remark about these diabolical doings. \u201cI ultimately think the devil brings out what is already in us,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWitch.\u201d By Jen Silverman. Directed by Maura Krause. $55-65. Multiple discounts, group sales, event details, and information are available at qtgrep.org or by calling the box office at (215) 987-4450. Through October 25, 2026, at the Sedgwick Theater, 7137 Germantown Avenue, Philadelphia. (215) 987-4450 or quintessencetheatre.org.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Abdul Sesay (As Frank Thorney), Imani Lee Williams (As Winnifred). Photo by Linda Johnson. By Constance Garcia-Barrio What…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":306541,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[69,71,70],"class_list":["post-306540","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-headlines","tag-philadelphia-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306540","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=306540"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306540\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/306541"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=306540"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=306540"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=306540"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}