Celebrating the Halloween spirit, the one-woman play “Broomstick” opened on Oct. 10 at the local Open Eye Theatre. With themes of love, betrayal, witchery and murder, the show is perfect for the season.
Performed solely by actress Cheryl Willis, the play follows a village witch recounting the plights and pains of her life to the audience. The monologue unfolds as a conversation between Willis and the audience, who takes on the role of a village child visiting after many years away from the witch.
Written by New Orleans playwright John Biguenet, the play pulls from familiar fairytale elements like tragic first loves and a possibly nefarious witch to create a timeless story, even 10 years after its original publication. Open Eye Theater’s Joel Sass took on the director role and introduced the show as a “visit from a witch” that he is merely sharing with the audience.
Willis’ performance can only be described as a supernatural force of nature, delivering an 80-minute monologue without any breaks or intermissions. Aided by occasional sound cues of crows squawking or the howling wind, Willis portrays the absent-minded and somewhat kooky witch as a woman desperate for connection.
This desperation is further highlighted by the stories she tells the audience. Regaling the audience with tales from her childhood, the unnamed woman walks the audience through the loss of her first love, the deterioration of her family and the death of a village girl who tormented her.
Throughout the play, I was left questioning if the witch is as benevolent as she claims because, throughout her stories, she claims she never intended for any of her magic meddling to harm anyone. It was completely coincidental that the townspeople who wronged her throughout her life suffered great misfortune like wart-covered hands and poor harvests.
The show unfolds in her hut, lit by a crescent moon and multiple warm fires. The set is another strength of the show, appearing lived-in as the witch moves around the stage. Though the space was small, it was brought to life by the assortment of witchy knick-knacks and trinkets, illustrating her long life before this moment we, as the audience, are welcomed into.
This unique set decoration is mirrored by the charming theater’s atmosphere. The building has no waiting room, the doors opening directly into the open-concept theater. The theater itself warrants a visit for its interior decoration. Giant blue curtains block outside light from the street and intricate puppet theaters line the wall above the bathrooms, creating a unique atmosphere for its audience.
While the show is built around an incredibly strong performance by Willis, there are still areas that can be improved. Future performances could benefit from more sound cues to break up moments of stagnant monologue.
Yet, the unending conversation felt intentional as Willis continued on rhyming tangents that devolved further into her musings about life and love. It felt like being trapped in a conversation with an older family member creating an uneasy tension as the witch’s more sinister actions are revealed.