The Witch Experience: What was it like to live in Orkney at the time of the witchcraft trials?
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Creative writing
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Drama
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Time travel
Already signed up? See info page for participants.
The Witch Experience aims to help people find out what was it like to live in Orkney at the time of the witchcraft trials. It is inspired by the real historical records of 72 witchcraft trials that happened in Orkney between 1594 and 1708.
“It is our past, and we will use real historical court records to find out what happened. But where history sees the past from an objective distance, I want us to put ourselves in these people’s shoes and experience it subjectively. I want it to become part of our own personal memory, because in that way we care more.” Ragnhild Ljosland
Time scale: 3 phases
Phase 1: Creative writing
First up are creative writing workshops held in Kirkwall, Stromness and online. It’s repeated so that everyone gets a chance and you only need to attend one. Participants will look at court records from the 17th century and probe into who these people were and what they thought they were doing – both those accused of witchcraft and those who believed themselves to have been cursed. There were other people involved as well; neighbours, authorities, interrogators, each with their own story. The stories will be teased out and added to with creative writing, so that they can be imagined and seen from each of these people’s perspective.
Please choose one workshop to attend:
Phase 2: Drama
Next, there will be drama workshops where participants get to know their chosen character better by trying them out in short improvised situations. You don’t need any prior experience with acting or drama to take part.
The intention is that participants will attend at least one writing and one drama workshop in preparation for the main time travel event.
- Drama workshop in Kirkwall (St Magnus Centre), Sun 20 Feb, 2-4 pm.
- [CANCELLED Drama workshop in Stromness (Town Hall), Sat 26 Feb, 2.30 – 4.30 pm]
- Online info meeting, Tues 22nd March, 7 pm, via Zoom
Finale: Time Travel
The project culminates on Sunday 27th March (12-6 pm) with a Nordic Larp. This is an improvised drama technique where participants take on the lives of the characters prepared in the earlier workshops and interact with each other.
For one day, the participants in The Witch Experience live in Kirkwall anno c. 1620 and experience that one of their community is publicly tried for witchcraft.
Set in Kirkwall, the event will take the form of a day in the life of a person in the 1620s. Not all are suspected witches. Farmers have come to town to buy merchandise or sell produce. The town’s burgesses are busily running their businesses. Traders have called in from the Low Countries. The clergy are taking care of their parishioners. There is political plotting. Others are seeking a cure for their ailments, or advice about the future.
Somewhere, among the crowd, is a witch – or several. It could be anyone – it could be you.
- Time travel, Kirkwall Sailing Club, Sun 27th March, 12-6 pm. Book your place
“For a day, we are in the 1620s. It is a turbulent time in Orkney; Earl Patrick Stewart and his son Robert have been ousted, causing political chaos. The Reformation is not far behind us, and the Kirk is still finding its feet. On top of it all, crops have failed, and many are on the brink of starvation. The inhabitants of Kirkwall seek to find explanations for their misfortunes by exposing the witches in their midst.”
The Witch Experience project is funded by Creative Scotland’s Culture Collective through the Pier Arts Centre. Culture Collective is a national programme supported by Creative Scotland exploring ways of working together, supporting artists and embedding the arts within community recovery from the effects of Covid19. Shetland, Orkney and the Outer Hebrides are working together as an ‘island group’ to share their experience and contribute to their communities. Creative Scotland is the public body that supports the arts, screen and creative industries across all parts of Scotland on behalf of everyone who lives, works or visits here. It enables people and organisations to work in and experience the arts, screen and creative industries in Scotland by helping others to develop great ideas and bring them to life. Creative Scotland distributes funding provided by the Scottish Government and the National Lottery. www.creativescotland.com
FAQ
You are responsible for sourcing your own costume.
You can borrow, sew, or put something together from charity shops. It doesn’t need to look perfect as long as it sort of reflects the time period and social standing of your character.
The simplest thing you can do, for women, is to wear a long skirt of neutral/earth colours, a knitted gansey, perhaps topped with apron, and a bonnet or headsquare.
The simplest thing you can do, for men, is to wear kilt stockings or long hiking socks over your trousers up to the knee, to make it look like you are wearing breeches. Then a knitted gansey, or shirt and waistcoat.
If you want to put in a little bit more effort, you can find ideas for 17th century fashion here:
Yes and no.
- You have to take part in at least one writing workshop and one drama workshop before attending the Nordic Larp time travel event.
- You can choose between workshops in Kirkwall, Stromness, or online.
- You can choose to do just the writing, or just the writing plus the drama workshop, but I am very much hoping everyone will go for the final event as well.
- You cannot dip in and out of the Nordic Larp time travel on 27th March. For example, you can not come in for a couple of hours. To achieve full immersion, we are all there for the full duration, noon – 6 pm. However, don’t worry, there will be times and spaces in which to relax, such an The Inn (Sailing Club).
There are 3 single rooms and 1 double room available in The Georgian Hoose, 83 Victoria Street, Kirkwall.
These will be allocated on a first come first served basis.
You will have access to the room from Saturday 26th to Monday 28th March (extra nights can be booked by agreement).
During the Nordic Larp event, your character will live in your room as a tenant of the house’s owner. Other players/characters will be able to come and visit you in your room during the larp.
To take advantage of this option, choose “residential ticket” when booking.
Otherwise, see Orkney.com for suggestions of Bed & Breakfast, Self Catering or hotel options.
The Sailing Club top room will act as an inn, where there is space to relax, eat, drink, chat, sing, and have a good time – in character!
The inn will serve soup, bread, water, and pretend-beer during the day.
Yes, but I will help connect your character with the other characters.
In the writing workshop, I will show you transcripts of some real historical documents from the Orkney witchcraft trials. Together, we will think about the people involved (accused, accusers, bewitched, witnesses, family members, etc.) – Who they were, how they understood what was happening, and how they felt.
Based on this, you will choose someone and write from their perspective. This forms the basis of your character.
I will collect all the characters and put them together in relationships (families, business contacts, neighbours, etc.) and add some stories about how they have interacted in the past, and what they plan to do next.
Among these stories are some that concern healing, cursing, and other actions that may be construed as witchcraft.
You will have the final version of your character and their background information in good time before the larp event.
Yes. Larp is about having experiences that are different to your everyday, so you are welcome to choose a gender or age other than your own. It is up to you to make it convincing with the help of costuming, make-up, and how you act.
No. It is only for participants; there is no audience. We are not doing it to perform or entertain. It is purely for personal growth.
Participants don’t need to have any acting skills and you don’t need to be good at it. All you need to do is to be another person for a day.
Therefore, there is no stage. Instead, we will be in the Sailing Club, and in three private homes in central Kirkwall which are very old buildings both inside and out. Also, we will be in the streets and lanes and the private garden of one of the houses. Other people will see us going about in old fashioned clothes, but there will not be any spectacle to watch.
The witch trial itself will also only be witnessed by the participants. It is time travel, not theatre.
Yes, as best you can, during the duration of the larp. The larp will be a much better experience for everyone if we all stay in character and avoid slipping into the 21st century.
