So said, Theatre Alliance’s artistic director, Dr Marlisa Ross who, along with musical director Stuart Bird share a vision for theatre which, in 2020 led them to form Theatre Alliance in Ayr.
And so out of Covid and both of them suffering redundancy, allied to being “very alike in creative interests”, they decided this doesn’t need to be the end, it’s the start of something.
That something is, “telling stories from the past and the present to shape the future”.
Theatrically they have already dealt with a diverse set of topics including the Ayrshire mining disaster at Knockshinnoch, the Suffragettes, and an imaginative Damn Rebel Bitches at Kilmarnock’s Dean Castle.
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With a clear feminist streak at play, this is none so more obvious in their latest work, The Devil’s Mark: The Story Of The Scottish Witch Trials.
Based on four of the thousands of women wrongly accused and unjustly convicted of witchcraft in Scotland, it was written and directed by Dr Ross. It’s a tale telling of their desire to, “create theatre about stories we felt more people should know the detail of” because “85% of the people in Scotland who were accused of being witches were women”.
“Almost 4000 people were accused in that time, with a substantial number being tried and executed.
“Everyone had a responsibility to hunt them down, but those accused were just ordinary women and men who found themselves victims of the atrocities and injustices of the witch hunt practices in Scotland.”
Picking the stories of four women, from different parts of Scotland, accused of witchcraft during Scottish 16th and 17th-century witch hunts, Dr Ross explained how, “an accusation could come from very little, turn into fact, become a trial and an execution”.
“There was so much fear; people needing someone to blame for misfortune. It seems like ancient history, but there are so many themes relevant now – things can move from gossip and rumour and become fact. It is easy to join the mob, rather than stand aside and not place blame.”
The four women chosen include Margaret Bain, a midwife, from Aberdeenshire.
“The Catholic Church had issues with midwives; a lack of trust for women who had those roles; knew the intimate secrets of lots of women of all different classes.”
Women such as Edinburgh’s famous Agnes Finney.
“Widowed with a child, uniquely a business owner, despite poverty, famine and plague surrounding her, was able to create a successful life. People accused her of a range of different things for that reason.”
And Bessie Dunlop, an Ayrshire woman.
“What’s really fascinating is her connection to the spiritual world; Bessie only ever used her gift for the good of people. She consulted an apparition called Thomas Reed, who would give her answers to ailments for people who were ill, or how to find lost or stolen property of people. Thomas assured her, [when] going to trial, that everyone who you’ve done so much good for will come and support you. No-one came.”
Then there was “Margaret Aitken who, when she was arrested, said, ‘oh I am a witch, and have the ability to look into the eyes of other women and I can tell’”.
“To avoid execution, she went around the country until a woman she had said wasn’t a witch, was put back in front of her a second day and she said, ‘she is a witch’. Then they knew that she was a fraud, so she ended up being executed!
“Some of the stories are so elaborate that they’re clearly hallucinations through sleep deprivation, starvation; you would say anything to get out of that torture.”
On one side were the accused, the other, the church, which filled everyone with panic, hysteria and suspicion, as Ross explained.
“The message loud and clear from the church was that women wouldn’t be able to withhold the devil, shouldn’t be trusted. It wasn’t a case of innocent until proven guilty. If you found yourself accused, knew about the torture, it was a matter of how long before you confessed.”
Theatre Alliance’s magic comes from their cast: “A fantastic cast of women, from Ayrshire, from 15 to 73, who understand the responsibility of telling the stories effectively,” said Dr Ross.
“It’s wonderful, the way they all work together and support each other.
“Having a full cast remember 75 different parts makes it much better; stronger. For some, this will be their first performance which is amazing. The full cast is onstage the whole time, so they work well as a team and it’s wonderful to see them share advice and experience with each other. Very special.”
It’s a limited run, “starting at the Cutty Sark Centre (in Ayr)”.
However, with “the plan to take this to other places,” they are not resting on any laurel as their, “next piece is the story of the first time that slavery was outlawed in Scotland, called The Tumbling Lassie”.
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The story has clear resonance with the philosophy of the company as it tells the tale of “a Mr Reid, who ran a travelling show, and bought a young girl no-one knew the name of from her mum.
“As she grew up, she was told by doctors ‘if you continue to do these [acrobatic]activities, you’re not going to be able to walk anymore’.
“He wouldn’t let her stop or let her go because he said, ‘I bought you; I own you’. She ran away, found her way to a family in Scotland who took her in, and he hunted her down, took them to court and said, ‘she’s my property, she has to come back’.
“It was the first court case where they said, ‘we don’t have slaves in Scotland, slavery is not a concept in Scotland, and mothers can’t sell their children’. We’re keen to look at the connections with modern slavery.”
Until then, the devil, rather than an X shall mark their spot.
The Devil’s Mark: The Story Of The Scottish Witch Trials shall be performed at 1pm and 5pm today at The Cutty Sark Centre, Ayr, KA7 1QW