King’s Theatre, Edinburgh – until 12 May 2019
Reviewed by James Knight
4****
Before JK Rowling, Harry and Hogwarts, there was Jill Murphy, Mildred and Miss Cackle’s Academy for Witches. Mildred Hubble and her friends have had an enduring charm over the years, with various films and TV incarnations, and now Emma Reeves has adapted her adventures for the stage. Reeves is also responsible for the latest TV adaptation on CBBC, so she knows her stuff.
The Worst Witch is essentially a play within a play – Miss Cackle’s Academy is recruiting new students, and so what we see is Mildred Hubble’s first year at the school performed as a school play. It immediately involves the audience, with the actors interacting with them pre-show. The story is instantly recognisable for anyone who has had to start at a new school – rules are confusing, teachers are intimidating and then there’s the fact that you don’t know who anyone actually is. Accident-prone Mildred (Danielle Bird) has arrived at the wrong school, and, despite not actually being a witch, quickly makes friends with Maud (Rebecca Killick) and enemies with Ethel Hallow (Rosie Abraham).
Mildred gets into various mishaps in her first year, to the disgust of Miss Hardbroom (a fearsome Rachel Heaton, evidently loving every moment), and these are only worsened by the arrival of Enid Nightshade (Consuela Rolle), a mischief-loving prankster who has been expelled from seventeen schools. Can Mildred reconcile her friendship with both Maud and Enid? And is something more sinister on its way?
The live music by Luke Potter and performed by Molly-Grace Cutler, Meg Forgan and Megan Leigh Mason (also playing Miss Bat, Fenella and Miss Drill respectively) is fantastic, and wonderfully expressive. The band’s comic timing is perfect, with various magical sounds used to subtle, almost unnoticeable effect, particularly in the potions class. Other highlights include a flying broomstick formation sequence which goes spectacularly wrong, leading to both Mildred and Maud having to fall onto crashmats to get down afterwards (Maud achieves a perfect dismount to my amusement). And despite the assertion of Miss Cackle (Polly Lister) that no magic will be used in the production (health and safety et cetera), this promise goes out the window when her evil twin sister Agatha (also Polly Lister extracting great fun from the two very different sisters) shows up.
The all-female cast is exceptionally strong and provides a spell-tacular evening of entertainment, with enough frivolity to lighten the mood of even Miss Hardbroom. The perfect blend of that other famous child wizard and his own play, and ‘The Play That Goes Wrong’, The Worst Witch is truly magical.