Bell, Book and Candle at Theatre At The Tabard

This was my first visit to Theatre At The Tabard though, to be transparent, I had been to Tabard Theatre and Chiswick Playhouse several times and they are all the same venue.

Calling me there this time was Bell, Book and Candle, the 1950’s magical romantic comedy that inspired the TV series Bewitched. It was an easy sell and I gladly stumped up £19.5 for regular seat A5.

The theatre is, unsurprisingly, above The Tabard pub and I went there fist for some food and a beer. It is always nice to have a reliable source of food and drink close to a regular theatre.

Bell, Book and Candle very much did what it says on the tin which was very much what I was hoping for. It set the scene for Bewitched though it was not quite a prequel because the situation and the names (e.g. Samantha was Gillian) were different though the basic premise of a human man getting entwined with a cute and playful witch was the same.

That cute witch was played by Beth Burrows superbly and her performance ensured the success of the show.

Gillian was the heart of the story which was about her, a powerful witch from a witch family, falling for a human and coming to terms with the consequences of that with, and without, the help of her aunt and brother. The story was told from her perspective, not his, and was the better for being that way round.

The humour was all very gentle and all a natural part of the story, there were no magical slapstick moments added on gratuitously. There were a few nice special effects too just to remind us that we were in the presence of witches.

Anyone who liked Bewitched will like Bell, Book and Candle, and other people will too.