found the path that destiny has carved for me in time’.The investigation gathers pace and the people find themselves accused by Nowell of witchcraft – including Alizon. In the furore that ensues, Nowell accuses James of being a coward and a traitor. For probably the first time in his life, James realises what is truly important. This is the life, the person he needs to be and we end act 1 with a profession of his sense of honour and loyalty to his people, his country. Act 2 opens with James and Sykes having returned to London to seek the intercession of the King. In doing so, James has returned to a world that could not be further removed from Pendle. Unable to see the King, he seeks the assistance of the Privy Council to assist him in his crusade to save the innocent folk of Pendle. Having made their case, they set out to return to Pendle unwittingly believing they have saved the people they have come to look upon as friends. Tragically, they have struck a bargain with the very people who will be their undoing. And for James and Sykes, they realise that Catherine and Alizon are more than friends and before leaving London, James finally accepts that in Catherine he has found the true love that had always evaded him, the life he was meant to live and he is compelled to break off his engagement to Sarah. Back in Pendle at Wickham’s inn, we discover Potts, racked with guilt over his part in what he sees as a travesty against the Law and the Lord and he is overwhelmed with the thought of ‘... how history will recall the man that forged its pages’. James and Sykes arrive at the inn to be informed by Wickham and Potts about what has occurred in their absence and that they are too late: several villagers are standing trial – including Catherine and Alizon. There is a tense standoff between Potts and James and even Sykes sees the futility of it all. James is left alone to consider his feelings and how in Catherine, this complete stranger has for the first time in his life, given him purpose, made him at one with himself. Though distance and circumstance now separate them, Sarah, Catherine and James reflect on how the journey has affected them, on the loss but also the love they bear. Sykes travels to Lancaster gaol to see Alizon and tell her his true feelings, but finds her and all the accused asleep. Whilst she sleeps, he pours his heart out concerning all the things he did not have the courage to tell her before. He leaves, having been disturbed by the arrival of a priest who pleads with the villagers to tell the truth: that they were not practising a satanic ritual, but simply celebrating Easter and their Catholic faith. They refuse to tell the truth, but rather place their trust in God. In their final hours before the trial they pray and think of their loved ones who have been left behind. But Nowell has pressed onward with his obsessions and the trial is a predetermined outcome. Despite the protestations of James the villagers implode, friend becomes accuser. The women are condemned and Alizon’s young sister Jennet seals Catherine’s fate by finally accusing her also, of witchcraft. Although he has achieved the result he had pursued, even Nowell is overwhelmed when faced by the enormity of what he has brought about, questioning the very things that make him who and what he is. There can only be one outcome and in their last moments alone together, James and Catherine find the thing that has eluded them throughout their lives ... love. We end with the company recounting the final outcome to our story, that being the execution of the accused for having simply committed the crime of being innocent and this segues into James leading the company in a promise to keep those who have gone, for ever in their hearts. Martin P. Roche (2009) MUSICAL NUMBERS • Bring Her Down (Potts & Company) • Reborn In You (Alizon) • A New Hope Instrumental • King James Court Instrumental
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