The Trial of the Pendle Witches : A Play

It addresses and explores a number of themes, including loyalty, gossip and rumour, family tensions, suppressed belief systems (paganism, Catholicism and more, perhaps), class struggles, personal vendettas and unashamed greasy pole climbing. Kemp's narrative, ingeniously incorporating some fictional characters among the actual protagonists and antagonists, is well structured and flows smoothly. The playwright's attention to nuanced detail is riveting, and his intelligent text asks some questions as pertinent four hundred years ago as now. Bigotry, persecution, class conflict and hysterical witch-hunts have always, regrettably, been part of the human condition since time began, and are certainly with us still today.