EDINBURGH 2025: WENCHES! Q&A

BWW caught up with Hysterie Theatre to chat about bringing Wenches! to the 2025 Edinburgh Festival Fringe. 

Tell us a bit about Wenches!

"Wenches!" is a satire. Dark, absurd, comedic. It's about two German Wenches, Nortburga and Bertegilde, who live in medieval Berlin. The number of executions in their village is getting out of hand- It could hit anybody at this point. However, the Wenches still find them quite entertaining to watch, at least until their Best Friend gets burnt. They feel the guilt of not standing up for her and decide to take action. That's when it all starts. With a step into the woods, embarking on a dangerous endeavour... they seek out the local witch: Bogdana. 

In this play we explore the price of inaction. When does it become more painful to stay passive than to take action? And what does taking action even mean? We explore the commodification of grief and virtue signaling by placing these modern themes into the Middle Ages, highlighting the absurdity of our times and wondering how much really has changed?

What was the inspiration behind writing it?

Inspired by Monty Python and Tom Stoppard, we wanted to create a satire that points at the commodification of everything and anything, virtue signaling and social media activism in the present day. And what "taking a stand" means in times of social media. 

Human rights movements have always been ripe for commodification. Companies and businesspeople take the opportunity to sell the ideas of activists back to them in flat, easily digestible packaging. Think of feminism the last couple years, the #girlboss, #slayqueen, pink glitter marketing that has completely erased the importance and depth of the feminist movement and made it something that people can buy. Meanwhile the cheap pink t-shirts were made by underpaid women workers in a sweatshop. But #Girlpower, right? But where does one even begin to fix the overwhelming amount of problems in the world, and how? 

In the age of social media, cancel culture and self censorship, "taking a stand" has taken on a whole new meaning. Africa Brook, in her book "The Third Perspective: Brave Expression in the Age of Intolerance", states that social media has changed the way we express ourselves. She explains that we live in an Age of Intolerance. We constantly feel that we need to prove our own Goodness. Posting infographics in order to keep the mob at bay, not out of a real desire to share it. Posting in order to signal: "I am safe, Don't attack me." Posting a black square in order to signal: "I am with you. I am good" ... but not doing anything else to help. 

Africa Brook's referral to the "Age of Intolerance" weirdly reminds us of the Age of Intolerance the Wenches live in, where a wrong word, a wrong step can lead to them being executed for being witches. How can you even "take a stand" in times like these? 

As we were creating this play, all of this was brewing under the surface- the frustration with the world we live in, and the fact that this frustration is nothing new inspired us to create the Wenches. It's the same frustration that people have been feeling since the dawn of time, the only thing that's different are the tools available. And there's no better tool than comedy.

How is the shared history between Scotland and Germany relevant?

One of the main topics driving the play is public executions, and how it's affecting the characters in the story, as well as their neighbors. While set in Germany, the topic is fairly universal (every country has a dark past of scapegoating). Germany and Scotland had some of the most intense and brutal witch hunts in Europe between the 15th and 18th centuries. Issues like the wars, the rapid changing of rulers and famine led to an atmosphere of scapegoating in Medieval Europe. Who is to blame for all of this? Unfortunately, women were usually the easiest target in a patriarchal landscape. It's the same today, who is to blame for what is going on? How do we bring them to justice? Is it the politicians? Billionaires?  Immigrants? Women? 

Performing this piece in Scotland - the cobbled streets, and memorials like the witches well, remind you of that history of scapegoating and its relevance to today. Incredible organizations like "Witches of Scotland" have brought this to attention again in recent years, and are getting justice for the women who were falsely accused and executed. We are excited for our piece to be fueled by this history while we perform it. 

What would you like audiences to take away from it?

The characters we have in our play, the Wenches and Bogdana, are not easily digestible. You can't place them into a box and label them heroes or villains. They just are what they are. Charming, Flawed, human. Which is exactly what makes them so relatable. You hate them because you ARE them, even if you don't want to admit it. We would like our audiences to feel free to laugh at these wenches, and through that, laugh at themselves. Because at the end of the day, are we justified in feeling morally superior to them? The Wenches find the executions entertaining. But do you perhaps find entertainment in things that are not ethically right in your life as well? Questionable reality TV? MMA Fights?  Bullfighting in Spain? Getting desensitized to the violence on the news? 

The point is, we don't have some moral answer on how to change the world and how to do it right (trust us, we wish we did), we just want to explore this topic and hopefully open some people up to questioning themselves as well as the commodified world we live in. We all need to have an emotional release for all the pent up frustration, and there's no better place for that than in the theatre. 

Why bring it to Edinburgh?

We are premiering the first original production of our theatre company Hysterie Theater at the Fringe this year. What better marketplace than the biggest festival for the Arts on the planet to establish our company? 

While Berlin based, we feel more at home in international theatre. In German theatre, especially in Berlin, we sometimes feel like being "avant garde", or shocking, is valued more than the stories and characters themselves. German theatre is very much influenced by Bertholt Brecht, who used to be a wonderful, revolutionary force in theatre. But now everything is Brecht influenced and has, in our opinion, lost its power. We want to create theatre that takes the audience on an emotional journey and creates a cathartic release.