By Bart Greenberg***As the audience settled into their seats, the mood for the coming show, Witchland, was established with distant sirens, knocking and laughter coming from uncertain directions, verging on hysterics. Suddenly the house is plunged into darkness. Unfortunately, this is the scariest and most successful moment in Witchland, a new play by Tim Mulligan, directed by Ken Wolf and presented by Manhattan Rep at The Chain Theatre. The evening was filled with inconsistencies in plot and in style, leaving the audience confused about whether to shiver in fear or laugh at the bizarreness on offer. Most of the cast seemed just as unsure.
The action began with a prologue straight out of any number of teenage slasher movies with horny boy Brett (Ben Wambeke) trying to get it on with his girlfriend Shannon (Nina Randazzo) in the front yard of the local witch. Of course, things go wrong and the Witch appears to curse them in some exotic language with her bright red oven mitt (no, it’s not explained), leaving the stud terrified and his would-be lover coo coo. The setting then shifts to Seattle where middle-aged gay couple Van (Geoffrey Grady) and Jared (Dave Silberger)—with zero chemistry between them—who live with their adopted Black daughter Ali (Mars Holscher), a teen with a whole lot of attitude and high grades in school. For economic reasons, Jared has a job offer in Eastern Washington State in a town called Richland, the site of a disabled nuclear plant (the town is real—the hometown of the playwright). Jared insists they move despite Van’s reluctance as a recovering alcoholic (we keep being told something horrible happened “the last time,” though details are never disclosed) and Ali’s disappointment in not finishing her education with her classmates.
So, they move to the town, locally known as Witchland, into a dumpy little apartment right across the street from the home of the Witch; it’s not the grand house on the river they were promised and talked at length about. It turns out that Van and Jared are the only gay couple in town and Ali is the only Black person in the high school. We are told this repeatedly, though the few citizens we meet have no issues with either minorities. But then, we are told many things repeatedly, such as the origins of the witch(at least three times) seen in rather murky flashback, where everyone is wearing red oven mitts.
There’s an inconsistency where The family seems to be unpacking; however, in the previous scene Jared says they’ll move as soon as Ali finishes her junior year (but she has already started her senior year); is this the curse of the place that the students don’t get the summer off? Even more inconsistent was the tone of the show. Some of the time was devoted to genuine scares and spookiness, some of the time was devoted to broad comedy, some of the time was just weird. In weirdness was a scene where an unknown man was having sex with a crow (it must be acknowledged that the uncredited crow 
costumes were highly effective), which was unsettling in its subtlety. On the other hand, a sequence in underground tunnels featuring two workers (Nathan Cusson and Danny McWilliams) was so over the top that it seemed to be lost footage from Abbott and Costello Meets the Witch. And why Jared finds comfort after being hexed by wearing a wire waste paper basket on his head was not explained; this gambit was neither scary nor funny, it was just silly.
Witchland is author Mulligan’s first play and is based on his own childhood. Perhaps a more grounded version of his experiences might have been a compelling theatrical piece. Much of the problems here could be fixed with editing and more focus on the story he is trying to tell. It is never a good idea to confuse the audience, and there seemed to be a great deal of confusion as to whether they should be laughing or screaming.
Witchland plays through Sunday, April 14, 2024 at The Chain Theatre, 312 W. 36th St., NYC. Tickets may be purchased via witchlandplay.com.
