ED FRINGE 2023 REVIEW | Prick
★ ★ ★ ★
Reviewer - Eliott
*Disclaimer: Gifted tickets in return for an honest review
These are the facts as we know them; Charting a play which tells the tales of witch trials is not something that is a novelty, as in previous years, versions of the Scottish Witch Trials have been presented on stage. However, with Laurie Flanigan Hegge’s new play, as part of this year’s Edinburgh Nappier season at The Space UK, Prick is a performance that steers the narrative to three ‘witches’ and gives light to their stories, with intertwining moments of beautiful puppetry that create the landscape where the play lands, with a fiery fox, ginger cat, a crooked crow, and miniature figures depicting the three women standing on trial.
In moments that include the whole cast on stage, the writing shines and even has moments of comedy elements mixed in for good pleasure; at a running time of 75 minutes, the play too has time to breathe and give evidence to the three women, portrayed with angst and boiled rage from Carys Turner, Abigail McDonald, and Lisa McIntyre. In moments of extended monologues, the direction is towards us as the audience, and whether we are seen by those on stage as witnesses or spectators to the hangings, the emotions are rife and felt, especially during an earlier passage from Carys Turner. The male roles are rather sidelined to create the tension of the main three unnamed women who represent the 4,000 wrongly accused victims of the Scottish Trials, but there are moments of torture and unease created by Lev Siegel and David Clarkson, with Ewan Jardine cast in fewer roles amongst the multi-rolling cast, but his presence is still felt.
