TRAVERSE AT EDINBURGH INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL

Traverse Theatre is proud to be part of Edinburgh International Festival 2009. As well as co-producing The Last Witch with the Edinburgh International Festival, the theatre is host venue for the fantastical and memorable Experimentum Mundi

World Premiere

The Last Witch

artwork: Linda Plaisted

By Rona Munro
Traverse Theatre Company

A co-production between the Edinburgh International Festival and the Traverse Theatre.

Dominic Hill - Director
Naomi Wilkinson - Designer
Chris Davey : Lighting designer

Dornoch, northern Scotland, 1727. In the claustrophobic heat of summer, a woman’s apparent ability to manipulate the power of land and sea stirs suspicion. Janet Horne can cure beasts, call the wind and charm fish out of the sea. Or can she? As her refusal to refute their claims of sorcery incenses the local community, her magnetic allure continues to captivate and destroy.

The Last Witch is based on the historical account of Janet Horne, the last woman to be executed for witchcraft in Scotland. She was sentenced to death by burning in her home town, accused by friends and neighbours who believed she had made a pact with the devil.

Rona Munro is one of Scotland’s leading playwrights and The Last Witch has been specially commissioned by the Festival. Munro explores the psychological rifts that can divide close communities and drive families apart, and vividly illustrates the destructive potential of fear in a small village.

Rona Munro is Edinburgh International Festival Creative Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities at the University of Edinburgh.

eif.co.uk/thelastwitch

Experimentum Mundi

Giorgio Battistelli  - Director
Nicola Raffone - Percussion
Members of the Edinburgh Royal Choral Union

For voices, percussion, narrator and artisans.

Composer Giorgio Battistelli takes sixteen artisans dressed in overalls and aprons and sets them to work in the Traverse Theatre producing a compelling and evocative symphony from your wildest imagination. Demolishing the barriers between life and art, everyday tools become musical instruments and the workmen transform into musicians in this fantastical and memorable performance piece.

Standing to one side, an actor reads extracts by Enlightenment writers describing in turn the tools and the work being done on stage. Sparks fly, eggs crack and hammers pound in this unforgettable blend human creativity and basic hard work.

Wednesday 2 - Saturday 5 September 8.00pm
Traverse Theatre
Tickets £17
1 hour approximately

eif.co.uk/mundi