The Witch of Edmonton

A play that blends comedy and domestic tragedy with a dramatic retelling of the final days of Elizabeth Sawyer, whose execution for the crime of witchcraft in 1621 had caused a sensation.

At the center of this remarkable 1621 play is the story of Elizabeth Sawyer, the titular “Witch of Edmonton,” a woman who had in fact been executed for the crime of witchcraft mere months before the play’s first performance. Described by the authors as a tragi-comedy and drawn in part from a pamphlet account of the trial then circulating, the play not only offers a riveting account of the contemporary superstitions embodied by the figure of the witch, but also delivers an implicit critique of the society that has created her. This edition of the work offers a compelling and informative introduction, thorough annotation, and a selection of contextual materials that helps set the play in the context of the “witch-craze” of Jacobean England.