Anna Burnside reviews the latest offering by acclaimed performer Briony Kimmings.
Briony Kimmings has a huge hole. In her soul, she tells us with an eyeroll. When filling it with the usual stopgaps of the 21st century - plastic shit from Amazon, men from Plenty of Fish - stops working, she allows a fit eco-warrior to relocate her to the countryside.
Bad idea. Friendless and desperate, she buys smock dresses, adopts a one-eyed cat, learns to felt and joins the local coven.
Bog Witch is Kimmings’ latest chapter in an ongoing performance autobiography. It’s part observational comedy and part folk horror, with a strong environmental message woven in.
She is a hugely engaging performer who could hold an audience in a stifling Portakabin. Thanks to the Traverse Theatre, she has an evocative set and props that include a historic plough and a felted chicken hat. Her growing hole is represented by black rubble while her increasingly unhinged cosplay bucolic outfits mirror her desperate attempts to integrate into village life.
Slight but evocative projections add texture while the lighting changes, marked by a click of her fingers, indicate changes of mood. There’s a running joke that when the hot tree-hugger mansplains climate change, her brain switches from listening to Pacha on a Saturday night. Complete with beats and a pink and lilac lightscape.
The climax of the show involves the audience donning giant masks to become animals, plants and minerals. She stage-manages this with immense charm, dealing with a badger busting moves and a game fella in his 70s cast as a helpful teenager.
Theatre with an environmental message is hard to get right. By deploying self-deprecating honesty and not pretending to have all the answers, Kimmings nails it.
Bog Witch is part of the Traverse Theatre’s Travfest 26 and performs until 30 August 2026. For further details, go to the theatre’s website.
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