Manningtree Witches

“It does not matter what is true, or not true. All that matters is what is written down.”

Essex, 1643.

A country divided. A town on it’s knees. A teenage girl with a dangerous secret.

As the Civil War rages on, in the quiet town of Manningtree, most of the men have gone off to fight, leaving the women to run the town. 17-year-old Rebecca West is like any teenager, brimming with self-doubt, consumed with unrequited love, and in a constant never-ending cycle of arguments with her sharp-tongued mother. As food runs out, and more men leave, Rebecca and her best friend Judith wait for something, anything to happen in Manningtree.

But change is coming.

When the mysterious Matthew Hopkins buys a pub, he brings questions. What does a young man like Matthew want with a town like Manningtree? Why has he come? And why is he so interested in Rebecca? But when an incident between Rebecca’s mother and a local boy plunges the town into discord, those questions are answered with horrifying frenzy.

As suspicion and fear take root and the community turns on each other, Rebecca finds her own girlhood weaponised against her – and is forced to make a devastating choice no daughter should ever have to make.

This is a thrilling world premiere that tells the true story of England’s first Witchfinder General, and wrenches the women he killed out from the shadows of history and into the spotlight.

Adapted by award-winning Mercury Playwright and screenwriter Ava Pickett, directed by Natasha Rickman and movement direction by Scott Graham, this gripping historical drama is a fiercely modern exploration of fear, control, and what happens when women’s voices are silenced.