Rehumanizing Scottish Witch Trial Victims through Theater: An Update on the Play Prick

Show Notes

In August 2023, we spoke with playwright Laurie Flanigan-Hegge about Prick, her play about the Scottish witch trials. It had just premiered at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

Two years later, the play has traveled to New Orleans, Wellington (New Zealand), and opens November 6-16, 2025 at the Den Theater in Chicago.

We reunite with Laurie and puppet artist Madeline Helling and meet two directors: Jeff Mills of Chicago’s Proboscis Theater Company and Amy Chaffee from Tulane University.

The conversation covers what it’s like staging historical violence, why the single puppet design works so powerfully, and how a play about 17th-century Scotland keeps finding new relevance.

About the Play

Prick examines the Scottish witch trials through three women: an Unknown Woman lost to history, Marioun Twedy of Peebles, and Isobel Gowdie. The title refers to “pricking”—searching accused women’s bodies for the “devil’s mark” with sharp instruments.

The play moves between past and present, uses dark humor and Scottish folk music, and centers on a single haunting puppet created by Madeline Helling.

What They Discuss

The rehearsal process: Both directors talk about the challenge of staging the pricking scenes, even with a puppet. Jeff’s Chicago cast continues working through how to show violence respectfully. Amy’s New Orleans students couldn’t bring the instrument near the puppet—they performed the gesture from twelve feet away.

The puppet’s power: Madeline designed one puppet to represent all the accused women. It’s specific enough to feel real, neutral enough that audiences project onto it. The puppet travels between productions and comes back to her for repairs.

Contemporary connections: The play addresses ongoing witch hunts in countries where witchcraft remains a state crime. Amy teaches in Louisiana and discusses working in a politically charged environment. Jeff talks about theater as “rehumanization” in response to current dehumanization.

The music: Both productions use songs by Heal and Harrow, a folk duo who created an album for the Witches of Scotland Campaign. Jeff adds Scottish guitar with electronics. Amy’s students performed acapella arrangements.

Cultural complications: Amy reflects on taking the play to Wellington, New Zealand—a colonial capital—at a conference focused on integrating Māori culture with acting and voice techniques. The play deals with Scotland as both colonized and colonizer, which created complex responses from audiences of different backgrounds.

“Remembrance Is Resistance”

This Witches of Scotland Campaign motto runs through the conversation. The campaign seeks pardons and memorials for nearly 5,000 documented accused. They created a tartan anyone can wear to show support.

At Tulane, one student built a monument inscribed with every name from the database and installed it in the lobby.

Chicago Production

November 6-16, 2025
The Den Theater, Milwaukee Avenue
Tickets: thedentheatre.com (search “Prick”)

Two weekends only. Proboscis Theater Company’s production features new jackdaw puppets and is reaching out to both theater audiences and Chicago’s pagan communities.

Guest Bios

Laurie Flanigan-Hegge is a playwright whose work focuses on historical events. She created Prick in collaboration with the Witches of Scotland Campaign for Justice. The play premiered at the 2023 Edinburgh Fringe Festival and has since been produced in the US and New Zealand. She has been collaborating with Jeff Mills and Amy Chaffee for 35 years.

Madeline Helling is a puppet artist based in Minneapolis. She designed and built the central puppet for Prick, representing the accused women of the Scottish witch trials. The puppet has traveled with the production to all its venues and returns to her for repairs between shows.

Jeff Mills is Co-Artistic Director of Proboscis Theater Company in Chicago. He is directing the Chicago production of Prick (November 6-16, 2025 at the Den Theater). A former member of an Irish-Scottish music band, he is also composing the sound design for the production. He has been friends and collaborators with Laurie and Amy for 35 years.

Amy Chaffee is Associate Professor of Voice and Acting at Tulane University in New Orleans. She directed the North American premiere of Prick at Tulane with nine undergraduate students, then took the production to Wellington, New Zealand for the Oceania premiere at an international theater festival. She primarily works as a voice coach and dialect coach in film and television.

Why Listen

Four theater artists who’ve been friends for 35 years discuss the ethics and challenges of bringing historical trauma to the stage. They’re honest about what works, what’s difficult, and why this particular play keeps finding new audiences.

If you’re interested in historical witch trials, feminist theater, puppetry, or how the past connects to the present, this conversation offers substance without sensationalism.

Related Episode: Episode 47 (August 2023) – Original discussion before Edinburgh premiere

Resources:

Witches of Scotland Campaign
Survey of Scottish Witchcraft database
Heal and Harrow (musicians)
thedentheatre.com

Keywords: Scottish witch trials, Prick play, Witches of Scotland, Chicago theater, Den Theater, puppet theater, witch trial history, Laurie Flanigan-Hegge, Jeff Mills, Amy Chaffee, Madeline Helling

The Thing About Witch Hunts explores historical persecution and its continuing echoes. Subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts.