Vinegar Tom (play)

Vinegar Tom (play)

Vinegar Tom is the title of a 1976 feminist play by British playwright Caryl Churchill. The play examines gender and power relationships through the lens of 17th century witchcraft trials in England. The script employs features of the epic theater associated with German playwright Bertolt Brecht, particularly the non-realistic use of songs. The play's title comes from the name of one character's pet cat, supposed to be her familiar spirit. The play was inspired by the Women's Rights Act in 1970 and explored the thought that women were treated unequally to men in England, both at the time in which the play takes place, and the time in which the play was written.

The play tells the story of Alice, who is in her twenties and living in a small village. Alice and her mother Joan are accused of witchcraft after an altercation with their neighbours, followed by several mishaps upon their neighbours' farm - supposedly the result of Joan's "witchcraft". It is later implied that Vinegar Tom, Joan's cat, may have been behind it all. The plot includes witchcraft, some slating of the Christian faith, and the oppression of women. It was written at the height of the second feminist movement in the 20th Century. Churchill, a highly influential feminist writer, uses this script to display how much control men have in society and how women have historically been treated as chattel, taught to be subservient to men. All of the songs are set in the time period of the play and reflect, in one way or another, the gender and sexual discrimination present in society. Betty, one of the play's characters, is classed as mad or ill simply because she does not want to marry. The play also outlines society's rejection of people who do not conform to the mainstream, or who are "different".