Evening star., 1950-05-03

that transpires in the living room
of Pastor Absolon in Bergen, Nor
way, in the year 1874.
Mad things are happening in
the community, affecting the
births of babies, the health of milk
COWS and the morals of thereto
fore upright citizens. To the re-
ligiouS zealotS of the city, these
can be explained only by witch
cry, most likely in the person of
Herlofs- Marie. This crone, who
looks as if she might take the
devil as consort, is quickly tried
and burned for her crime but not
before she has singled out Anna
PederSdotter as the girl most
likely to succeed her in Satan S
favor.
Anna, the young wife of Pastor
Absolon, is protected from public
knowledge of this bitter heritage
by her devout husband. Only she
and he know, although his un-
relenting old mother suspects, and
Anna is safeguarded by the pas
tors sense that whatever guilt
she bears is partly his own.
AS fundamentalist playwrights
always have believed, however,
the Devil will out in this case as
in all others. Here it takes the
malevolent form of the young
Wife's seduction of AbSolon'S idol
lied son, her invocation of death
for the elderly husband, and her
final admission that in it all she
has been Satan's handmaiden.
What modern play can compete
with THE Witch in this tempes-
tuous movement?
University players rarely have
been asked to initiate frenZies such
as these 1t is not in the nature
of youth and ineXperience that
they should rise completely to
the challenge. Frankly, they do
not.
Yet in many of the perform
ances there is more than the sug-
gestion of the furies which beset
the good, and bad, people of Ber-
gen near the end of the 10th CEN
tury. This is true of Angela Mar
chena's portrait of the seductive
Anna: of Wilbur Lewis as the
conscience-stricken Pastor Abso-
lon; RoXie Roker as the unfor-
giving, f1ercely maternal parent
of the pastor; and Harry Baxter
as the son who succumbs to the
joint wiles of Anna and Satan.
If none of these prove just what
it was that the old Bergenites suf-
fered from their belief in witch
craft, they surely suggest that it
was something frightful and dra-
matte.
The single set of 'The Witch"
is the work of William Bondhill
and establishes a properly somber
atmosphere for Masef1eld's trans.
lation of the play.
x X
Midweek memos: Next attrac-
ton of the Children's Theater of
will be Mary Pop
pins" to be presented May 10,
20, Is and q at Roosevelt High
The production
by the Children's Studio is
under the sponsorship of the Dis
trict Recreation Department. j
KIwanis Club members got a pre-
view of the new Plaza Theater
last night with a benefit showing
of the houses first attraction,
salt to the Devil" The
Straw Hat Players, who will offer
a 10-week summer stock season
at Mclean, Va, are in the market
for local acting and playwriting
talent. Thomas Brent, Mclean,
is the man to write. THE
Male Animal" will be offered in
three performances by the Ken
sington Players, starting tomorrow
night, continuing through Friday
The Kensington Junior High
School auditorium is the scene
=. A new drama group, the goth
Century Players, will offer a new
one-act play, Period, Period,
Period" at Cafritz Auditorium,
May 8-11. S. Lee Pogostin is the
author.