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The Worst Witch
Kenny Wax Family Entertainment, Novel Theatre and Nica Burns present a Royal & Derngate, Northampton Production. Mildred Hubble is an ordinary girl who found herself in an extraordinary a school for witches. Now in her final year at Miss Cackle’s Academy, accident prone Mildred and her fellow pupils are about to embark on their biggest adventure yet… When Mildred and her friends decide to put on a play about their experiences as witches in training, mayhem inevitably ensues. Jealous Ethel Hallow is always out to spoil Mildred’s fun. Stern Miss Hardbroom is opposed to all fun in general. Worst of all, an old enemy returns with a plan for revenge that could threaten not just the Academy, but the whole world.
118 pages, Print on Demand
Published March 26, 2019
8 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
April 5, 2022
I've been a Worst Witch fan since long before that fella with the glasses came on the scene, so when I saw there had been a recent stage production, scripted by the head writer from the recent CBBC series, I knew I had to get a copy of the script.
Sad to say, it wasn't the play I was hoping for. Like the CBBC series, it took plots from Jill Murphy's wonderful books while needlessly altering them, and also seemed determined to 're-imagine' the characters while robbing them of much of the subtlety and depth that made the originals so endearing. Mildred Hubble gets yet another unnecessary 'real world' background, while Reeves seems determined to build up Maud at the expense of her. It's like doing a Poirot play and putting Hastings centre-stage. Ethel Hallow is reduced to calling the audience 'plebs' to show her snobbishness, and Enid has been reimagined as a 'street' kid who says things like 'wicked' and 'awesome' (which surely wouldn't cut much ice with any self-respecting kid today?).
Plays are there to be watched, not read, and I'm sure this would make an entertaining visit to the theatre for children, although an unexpected drift into darkness and some quite harrowing moments at the climax might lead to a few tears from younger ones. The play makes jokes at the expense of Potter while being influenced by it in putting the school at the centre of a climactic battle. There are also the obligatory political jokes for the adults - always the quickest to date. The lyrics aren't particularly inspired with a lot of "oo-oo-oo" from the chorus, and the stage directions are maddeningly unclear - how do you make girls turn invisible, or into snails, onstage? If producing this play, I would certainly want to know.
It's fun, and there's a clever twist at the climax with the play-within-a-play, but I would have liked to see Jill Murphy's actual books put onstage, with all their cleverness, humour and sympathetic characterisation. This script was more of a beginner's spell for me.
Sad to say, it wasn't the play I was hoping for. Like the CBBC series, it took plots from Jill Murphy's wonderful books while needlessly altering them, and also seemed determined to 're-imagine' the characters while robbing them of much of the subtlety and depth that made the originals so endearing. Mildred Hubble gets yet another unnecessary 'real world' background, while Reeves seems determined to build up Maud at the expense of her. It's like doing a Poirot play and putting Hastings centre-stage. Ethel Hallow is reduced to calling the audience 'plebs' to show her snobbishness, and Enid has been reimagined as a 'street' kid who says things like 'wicked' and 'awesome' (which surely wouldn't cut much ice with any self-respecting kid today?).
Plays are there to be watched, not read, and I'm sure this would make an entertaining visit to the theatre for children, although an unexpected drift into darkness and some quite harrowing moments at the climax might lead to a few tears from younger ones. The play makes jokes at the expense of Potter while being influenced by it in putting the school at the centre of a climactic battle. There are also the obligatory political jokes for the adults - always the quickest to date. The lyrics aren't particularly inspired with a lot of "oo-oo-oo" from the chorus, and the stage directions are maddeningly unclear - how do you make girls turn invisible, or into snails, onstage? If producing this play, I would certainly want to know.
It's fun, and there's a clever twist at the climax with the play-within-a-play, but I would have liked to see Jill Murphy's actual books put onstage, with all their cleverness, humour and sympathetic characterisation. This script was more of a beginner's spell for me.
October 9, 2019
As a drama and theatre fan, along with being a Worst Witch fan, I couldn't believe it when I discovered that a stage adaptation of the book series had opened in the West End. Having moved out of the UK, however, the only way I could experience it was to order the play's script. And I am very glad that I did!
Presented as a play-within-a-play throughout most of the production, the script's playwright Emma Reeves manages to stay true to the fun and simple tone of Jill Murphy's books whilst also doing a different take on it. The directions and lines are clear and consistent, never too complicated for even a novice theatre fan to read. Even with the special effects, it would be easy for any amateur dramatics group to perform this!
The play presents the characters' personalities - such as Enid as the sarcastic rebel and Ethel as the smug bully - through witty and self-awate humour and even dark moments where death and world domination comes into play. I was surprised to see one of the characters get killed (only to be resurrected) in the final battle!
Although not a musical per say, songs are orchestrated during the play and the script features the lyrics. In the vein of Blood Brothers, it is more in line with being a play featuring songs, using them to show character and to just be fun.
It is a shame that I didn't get a change to see this onstage (at this time anyway), but reading the script allowed me to imagine what the experience would have been - fun, dramatic, humorous and full of wonder, much like the source material and much like theatre itself.
Presented as a play-within-a-play throughout most of the production, the script's playwright Emma Reeves manages to stay true to the fun and simple tone of Jill Murphy's books whilst also doing a different take on it. The directions and lines are clear and consistent, never too complicated for even a novice theatre fan to read. Even with the special effects, it would be easy for any amateur dramatics group to perform this!
The play presents the characters' personalities - such as Enid as the sarcastic rebel and Ethel as the smug bully - through witty and self-awate humour and even dark moments where death and world domination comes into play. I was surprised to see one of the characters get killed (only to be resurrected) in the final battle!
Although not a musical per say, songs are orchestrated during the play and the script features the lyrics. In the vein of Blood Brothers, it is more in line with being a play featuring songs, using them to show character and to just be fun.
It is a shame that I didn't get a change to see this onstage (at this time anyway), but reading the script allowed me to imagine what the experience would have been - fun, dramatic, humorous and full of wonder, much like the source material and much like theatre itself.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews