vinegar tom

Vinegar Tom is a 1976 play by the British playwright Caryl Churchill. The play examines gender and power relationships through the lens of 17th-century witchcraft trials in England. The script employs features of the epic theater associated with German playwright Bertolt Brecht, particularly through the use of song as well as the added anachronism of the actors. There were seven songs and twenty-one scenes. The play's title comes from the name of one character's pet cat, supposed to be her familiar spirit, likely inspired by the supposed imp of one Elizabeth Clarke, a woman tried and executed for witchcraft in Essex in 1645.

Churchill's play was inspired by the Equal Pay Act of 1970 and explored the unequal treatment of women to men in England, both in 17th century England and contemporaneously to the time in which it was written.

By: Caryl Churchill

Director: Anne G. Levy

Costume Design: Katie Stankovich

Scenic Design: Lynn Hutton

Lighting Design: Jacob Olsen

Photographer: Porfirio Solorzano

The University of Alabama 2018

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