All Servants are Witches

Documentation of Performance

 

 ‘All Servants are Witches’ was a site specific performance that took place at Pollok House, made in response to the various histories of the stately home and the surrounding grounds, particularly in relation to the story of the ‘Pollok Witches’, the five people accused of bewitching Sir George Maxwell of Pollok in the 17th century Polloktoun, and the wider implications of the history of witch-hunting in Europe in its connection to issues of class, labour, feminism and capitalist models of production and reproduction.

 

Four female performers dressed in hooded robes and costume jewellery, carrying a toad made from iron ore and plaster, walked through the house singing. Stopping in the Servants’ Hall, I read out a text written for this performance. I consider there to be a link between the character of the witch and the image of the servant scuttling through back passages, making tea appear at an elbow as if by magic, the products of their labour seen everywhere but the people must remain invisible; even turning their faces to the wall upon the unexpected entrance of a household member. 

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TEXT FOR PERFORMANCE

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