Vinegar Tom – Maltings Theatre, St Albans

Vinegar Tom continues at Maltings Theatre, St Albans until 6 November 2021.

Star rating: three stars ★ ★ ★ ✩ ✩

Caryl Churchill’s angry, feminist 1976 piece has not worn well. Despite the fine efforts of director Matthew Parker and his talented cast it’s disjointed and not really a “rock musical”. The songs feel as if they’ve been added as an afterthought for a change of mood – that mood somewhere between Kurt Weill and Andrew Lloyd Webber but not as good as either.

There are, however, some excellent performances. Emilia Harrild is outstanding as Alice, the sassy, troubled prostitute whose mother is accused of witchcraft. She is variously yearning, sardonic, angry, frightened, undaunted even in distress and Harrild has a truly fabulous singing voice whether the number is lyrical or furiously rhythmic.

Jill Priest is moving as poor, misunderstood Joan and Melissa Shirley Rose finds lots of depth in Alice’s friend, Susan. Emma Thrower’s monologue as Goody, assisting the witch finder (Jon Bonner – strong work) is show-stoppingly chilling as she describes “witch” marks and growths on women’s bodies. They were regarded as the marks of the devil but today you don’t need to be medically qualified to hear the symptoms of breast cancer, cysts and other conditions. And it was all bound up in religious distortion and the sort of superstition which flourishes in dictatorial environments where eduction is minimal.

Many of the cast are versatile actor-musos. Three electric guitars are picked up for songs and several cast members play basic keyboard. It’s odd, though, that most of the songs are presented statically, almost as if the cast briefly transforms into a choir.

Like all plays and novels about witchcraft the piece explores the nature of mass hysteria and fear which led to the bullying – and ultimately much worse – of women on the edges of their community. How are Alice and Joan supposed to live if they’re not married? And this in a society which celebrates the activity of the witch hunter and pays him for getting women hanged. The odds are stacked against any accused woman from the outset. Marriage is her only only viable insurance policy. Tragically, these issues still resonate in some form in many societies.

The theatre is configured in the round for this production, with characters waiting in the corners. Seating capacity is 90-plus. I was, therefore, sorry to see only 28 people present on press night. This subdued occasion was a far cry from the usual busy buzz of an opening night.

Susan Elkin