The Witch of Edmonton is a 1621 drama co-written by Thomas Dekker, William Rowley and John Ford. The inspiration for the drama was a popular pamphlet detailing the particulars of a witch hunt investigation conducted against Elizabeth Sawyer. The Islington resident was executed for being a witch earlier in the very same year. These pamphlets were a popular form of literature at the time and the Sawyer is intricately worked into the drama to become more a background subplot rather than becoming the main thrust of the narrative.
Although it is not entirely for certain which of the three authors contributed which individual lines or scenes, another subplot involving a man married to more than one woman for the purpose of holding onto property is strongly believed to have primarily if not entirely the work of John Ford. The play was successfully revived throughout the 20th century, most notable with a young actress who would go on to become Dame Edith Evans. A 1980 off-off-Broadway production by the Jean Cocteau Repertory Theatre was soon followed by a highly regarded 1982 mounting by the Royal Shakespeare Company.
The Witch of Edmonton has managed to maintain a popularity due to its treatment of witchcraft being fully grounded in the real world. The play is rare for its time for being more focused on how simple villagers can so easily be sucked into the ridiculous world of those true believers who remain convinced of the existence of witchcraft in the world despite all factual evidence to the contrary.
