JONESBOROUGH REPERTORY THEATRE

October 31 - November 11, 2006

Jonesborough Repertory Theatre welcomed the humorous fantasy, Terry Pratchett’s Wyrd Sisters, a play by Stephen Briggs.

“Take Shakespeare’s Macbeth and turn it up until the knob comes off,” says Director Steve Butler, who is making his JRT directorial debut. This “patchwork parody” contains magic, satire, ghosts and of course witches. It has been said that parodying Shakespeare is a cottage industry among novelists. Wyrd Sisters is a fun example.

Kerryn Goldsworthy of Elizabeth, England reviews, “The main characters of this cheerful knockabout production are a trio of witches based on the "weird sisters" from Macbeth.

For its characters and events, the story draws mainly on Macbeth. It's a kind of comic, almost pantomime version of Shakespeare's play, but also a patchwork parody of various fairytales, myths, and scraps of medieval lore.

The Wyrd Sisters (the witches) find themselves in charge of an abandoned baby who turns out to be the son of the late King. The King has been murdered by the paranoid and dotty Duke Felmet, who now rules the land, and his Duchess (who rules him). After making 20 years pass by magic, the witches then attempt to restore the young heir to his rightful throne, with unpredictable results.”

Another British reviewer has said that Wyrd Sisters presses a pertinent question upon today's world, “what is, or should be the role of monarchy in modern society? Pratchett uses the Hamlet example to examine this question in a new and penetrating manner. Kings can rise and fall through many means.”

This staged adaptation is a collaboration of Pratchett and Briggs taken from Pratchett’s comic fantasy novel, Wyrd Sisters. To those familiar with Terry Pratchett’s Discworld Series, the play is a chance to meet some old friends. Those unfamiliar will find out what the craziness is all about. Pratchett brings a sense of the absurd to the recognizable, a sense of comedy to the tragic. Yet, in the end good wins out, in very pragmatic ways.

An eclectic cast makes up the compelling characters: Jean and Steve Bashor, Brandon Campbell, Josh Grossman, Chalmer and Meredith Harper, Jennifer Holland, J. T. Hornsey, Victoria Judy, Conner Klee, Logan Lockner, Nancy Hope Major, Courtney Morrow, Rachel Ponder, Derek Smithpeter, Gareth, Griffin, and Shelley VanCamp.

“They are a great group to work with and are having a good time with each other,” says Butler. “My hope for the show is that the audience have as much fun watching the show as we are having performing it.”