The Ungodly
Nadia Jackson as Susan Edwards. Photo by Bill Jackson.
Review by Andrew Clarke
One of Joanna Carrick’s great gifts as a writer and a director is her ability to take characters from a history book and turn them into believable, down-to-earth people who, in another age, could be living next door to you. Carrick creates engaging theatre - compelling narratives which draw you in and make our shared past come to life. She lifts Suffolk’s history from dusty documents and makes it live; by focusing the story on ordinary people, she connects the present with the past, and The Ungodly is the latest proof.
She is helped by a quartet of first rate actors (Christopher Ashman and Nadia Jackson as Richard and Susan Edwards, Vincent Moisy as Matthew Hopkins and Rei Mordue as Rebecca West) but it is the meticulously researched play itself which gives them the ability to fly.
The Ungodly tells the story of how Mistley-born Matthew Hopkins - a stammering, shy, awkward teenager - became an ultra-zealous puritan, obsessed with witches and believing The Devil was working tirelessly to destroy God-fearing, ordinary people in Manningtree. To him everyone was a sinner. Everyone had the potential to be corrupted by Satan and the ability to kill children and livestock, or make the harvest fail simply by wishing it.
To modern secular audiences, Hopkins may seem to be a delusional crackpot who should be laughed out of court, but in the 17th century he gained the ear of the local judiciary, the local constable, and the local priests.
Also, he was not alone. Travelling preachers and religious academics were also spreading fear about the rise of witches causing harm in local communities. Britain was struggling to come to terms with the greatest social upheaval in its history and the people would cling to anything that made an erratic, changing world make sense.
The Civil War was raging, Charles I was soon to lose his head after a life of aloof decadence, and Oliver Cromwell was about to introduce an era of pious, if joyless, austerity during which songs, dancing, theatre, and festivities were all outlawed, along with Christmas and birthday celebrations.
Christopher Ashman as Richard Edwards, Nadia Jackson as Susan Edwards, and Vincent Moisy as Mathew Hopkins. Photo by Bill Jackson.
It was a world in which God and the Devil were real. People regarded them as certainties - solid pillars that framed daily life. Jo’s greatest achievement, as a writer and a director, is that she made this world a believable place.
And the actors were 100% committed to this reality. They were not caricatures, they were fully rounded, complex and contradictory people, shaped and influenced by the world around them.
Although, on the surface, it would appear that The Ungodly is the story of how Matthew Hopkins turned from an incel-style, teenage loner into the Witchfinder General, it is far more than that. It’s about the time and place that allowed him to thrive. His life is entirely seen through the eyes of his kindly step-sister, Susan Edwards, and her patient, caring farmer husband, Richard. We, as the audience, identify with this pair of reasonable, good-hearted people and so regard Hopkins as nothing more than a slightly troubled youth. But quietly, over many years, he gently radicalises the very people who have given him shelter and a profession running the local inn.
Everything, however extreme, that happens or is alleged during the second half of the show works – is accepted as plausible – because of the groundwork that has been laid by Jo and the actors during the first hour.
The cast, without exception, have created roles that are grounded and nuanced. Played in the round, the staging puts the audience in the heart of the action, as all events are played out either in the Edwards kitchen, or in the local Guildhall where the interrogations took place.
The Ungodly wears its learning lightly and it’s great to see local history brought to life in such a compelling and exciting way.
Highly recommended.
The Ungodly is at The Avenue Theatre, Ipswich until October 19, then it will be at Southwark Playhouse, London, from Oct 23-Nov 16, 2024.
FOR FULL SHOW DETAILS AND BOOKING LINK, CLICK HERE