Edy Hurst’s Wonderfull Discoverie of Witches in the Countie of Himself somehow brings together the Pendle Witch Trials, the Vengaboys and ADHD at the Camden People’s Theatre
“Ominous bells ring out”
Edy Hurst opens Edy Hurst’s Wonderfull Discoverie of Witches in the Countie of Himself by rising from his giant cauldron like Elphaba herself but rather than defying gravity, there’s a hilariously inelegant struggle to actually get out of the damn thing. It’s a hugely personable introduction to a hugely personable performer, Hurst’s innate enthusiasm swiftly drawing us into the revelation from his mother that she’s found one of the Pendle witches in their family tree and his subsequent headlong trip into creating a show about it.
I’ve hugely fond memories of childhood trips to Pendle in my native Lancashire as its history of the Salem of the UK is a rich and fascinating one. But Hurst has much more in his mind than just the story of Elizabeth Southerns and that is what plays out over a rather entertaining hour. Convinced he must have magical power too, an unwitting audience member gets a chaotic tarot reading; salt circles are created to cast spells; we even take a trip to the spirit realm to attempt to rescue the Vengaboys who Hurst has inadvertently trapped there.
The Vengaboys tangent is as left-field as you imagine it to be, a certain measure of humour coming from parsing the contradictions in their lyrical body of work. More promising are the hints of something more personal poking through the performance, a medical diagnosis being ignored but explaining so much. As the show tackles (some of) the consequences of that in a stark sequence late on, there’s something quietly heartbreaking here as Hurst puts into words just a little of what is means to live as a neurodivergent person.
Creatively, there’s an astonishing amount of work that has been put in here – at least two craft projects that must have taken hours on end – but both more than worth it for the impact they give. The captioning gags might not be the most original but they’re still so funny to read and there’s good use of video, not least in a snapshot of the Witches Tour you can take from Manchester. Few may find references to Charnock Richard service station as amusing as my family (long story) but there’s so much charm in this Wonderfull Discoverie that you can easily see why it was a hit in Edinburgh this year.
