Birth Witches a Labor of Love

By James E. Trainor III
Photo courtesy Cornell College

Women, if I've done my math right, were giving birth for at least a few generations before the advent of modern medicine, for all its comforting smiling doctors with expensive degrees in shiny new hospitals. So it makes you wonder what all the itemized, billable fuss is about, when this is something midwives took care of simply and practically for centuries before men decided to stick their noses in. Jennifer Fawcett's satire Birth Witches examines this question by bringing us back to the early 17th century, a very fascinating time in England's history, and pitting a Doctor (Tim Budd) who has invented a new tool for extracting a baby against young Meg (Dorothy Jolly), who wants to be a midwife just like her dear old grandmother (Jody Hovland).

Fawcett's script is very insightful, with a lot of humor and humanity to balance out its moments of heartbreak and horror. Riverside's production, directed by Leda Hoffmann, does the piece justice. It is well-cast, well-directed, and well-designed; the versatility of the set (by Paul Sannerud) and the Chorus allow the company the flexibility to straddle the line between outrageous lampoon and thoughtful, character-driven exploration.

We start right with the gritty but necessary business of the play's subject matter: a childbirth, this one gone wrong. Lots of screaming, bloody sheets, general panic. Midwives are trying to soothe a woman in great pain. We find out that her husband, a Doctor, has been testing his new apparatus, a sort of primitive forceps: "when it still wouldn't come," one of the women reports, "he used the hook." The mother dies; the baby is alive but horribly scarred. The father, a scientist at heart, will improve his device but in the meantime he needs a scapegoat... and wasn't the old midwife seen mumbling a curse before the mother started having pains?

Birth Witches at Riverside

Iowa City – "In Jennifer Fawcett’s new play, BIRTH WITCHES, it’s 1606 and the witch craze has come to London. Superstition, science, politics, religion and tradition clash in the birthing room as male doctors fight to replace female midwives. This world premiere blends elements of drama and satire, exploring the politics of birth that began over 400 years ago and continues today. Directed by guest artist Leda Hoffmann and a co-production with Cornell College.

Shows run at Riverside Theatre, Thursday – Sunday, October 18 – November 3, 2013. Tickets: Adults, $25-30; Youth/Student Rush, $15. More information at riversidetheatre.org, or by calling the Riverside Theatre Box Office, 319-338-7672. Riverside Theatre is located at 213 N. Gilbert Street, Iowa City, Iowa.

Birth Witches at Cornell

Myra Duffour, Per Wiger, Daniel Dempsey

Mount Vernon - "The Cornell College Department of Theatre is proud to announce its upcoming production of Birth Witches. A dark yet funny satire by Iowa City playwright Jennifer Fawcett, this production is guest directed by Leda Hoffmann of the Milwaukee Rep. Birth Witches is also co-produced with Iowa City’s Riverside Theatre.  The production runs October 10 - 13 on the Cornell College campus. It will then be remounted at Riverside Theatre and run October 18 - November 3.

It's 1606 and the witch craze has come to London. King James rules a land steeped in superstition, trapped in politics and at the dawning of the Scientific Revolution. A new profession called "Physician" has become popular with the elite and the traditions of the midwives are called into question. As the new male doctors fight to replace the old female midwives, accusations of witchcraft overturn hundreds of years of tradition and release dark fears and acts of violence. Fawcett’s dramatic satire offers a heart-wrenching and darkly funny look at the superstition and politics that transformed midwives into witches.