On 19 April 1621 a woman named Elizabeth Sawyer was hanged at Tyburn. Her story was on the
bookstalls within days and within weeks was adapted for the stage as The Witch of Edmonton. The
devil stalks Edmonton in the shape of a large black dog and just as Elizabeth Sawyer makes her
demonic pact the newlywed Frank Thorney enters into his own dark bargain in the shape of a
second bigamous marriage. Torn between sympathy for Sawyer and Thorney and a clear-eyed
assessment of their crimes the play was the finest and most nuanced treatment of witchcraft
that the stage would see for centuries. Lucy Munro's introduction provides students and
scholars with a detailed understanding of this complex play.
