The Witch of Edmonton - Arden Edition

Her story was on the bookstalls within days and within weeks was adapted for the stage by renowned Jacobean playwrights Thomas Dekker, John Ford and William Rowley as The Witch of Edmonton

The devil stalks Edmonton in the shape of a large black dog and - just as Elizabeth Sawyer makes her demonic pact - the newlywed Frank Thorney enters into his own dark bargain in the shape of a second, bigamous marriage

Torn between sympathy for Sawyer and Thorney and a clear-eyed assessment of their crimes, the play was the finest and most nuanced treatment of witchcraft that the stage would see for centuries

Editor Lucy Munro's Introduction provides students and scholars with a detailed understanding of this complex play

TABLE OF CONTENTS

List of illustrations

General editors' preface

Preface

Introduction

Prince Charles's Men, 1618-22

Collaborations

Reading Elizabeth Sawyer in 1621
Witchcraft and Bigamy: 1621 and 1658
Danger and Death: Tragicomedy and Domestic Drama in 1621
Curtain and Cockpit: Staging the Supernatural in 1621
London and Lancashire: Staging Witchcraft in 1634
The Witch and the Dog

Staging The Witch of Edmonton: 1921 to 2014

Edmonton on Stage

The Witch and the Dog: Reprise

Forget the Hobby Horse!

Printing The Witch of Edmonton: 1658 and 2014

THE PLAY : THE WITCH OF EDMONTON

Appendix: Doubling chart