White Witch is scheduled to be released early next year. - Contributed

After seeing what she believes was the ghost of the notorious Annie Palmer on the then ruins of the Rose Hall Great House, teacher, actress and now playwright Jane Crichton became, like many before her, fascinated with the legend of the 'white witch'.

Developing her fascination into a musical, 'White Witch', the play is filled with ancestral imagery, energetic dances and stirring performances of guile and passion. Directed by Douglas Prout and David Tulloch, White Witch is expected to premiere early next year at Fairfield Theatre in the Second City of Montego Bay.

In a telephone interview, Crichton discussed with The Sunday Gleaner the long process that brought her play out of the annals of history and on to the grounds of the Fairfield Theatre. Not content with the image of Annie Palmer as a ruthless, voodoo-practising misandrist, Crichton shifts the perspective on the legend in her first full length play.

beautiful, but spoiled

Jane Crichton

As the story goes, Annie Palmer was the beautiful, but spoiled, young white wife of James Palmer, owner of the Rose Hall Plantation in 1820. James and Annie's successive husbands all died suspiciously and were rumoured to have been killed by her. Annie Palmer allegedly practised voodoo, using it to terrorise her slaves, who taught her the witchcraft, and bedding her hunky male servants, whom she subsequently killed.

The great house was built in the 1770s and was restored to its former glory in the 1960s - yet it is said that the ghost of Annie Palmer and the lovers whom she murdered still haunt Rose Hall today.

Unwilling to believe all the tales, Crichton said she found it disturbing that a young female was evil without just cause.

"I've always been interested in the story of Annie Palmer, from years ago when I thought I saw her ghost when I was up there (Rose Hall) as a young girl," said Crichton. "My friends and I were up on the steps before it was restored and saw this flicking light that kept moving from window to window and that fascinated us. Also the idea that she was so evil always disturbed me because I thought there must be a reason for her to be like that."

According to Crichton, she imagines Palmer as a frustrated and abused woman who took out her grievances on the people around her. Sticking mainly to the story that has been passed down through generations, Crichton adds a few quirks to show that Palmer was just a woman who was upset at the way her life was going.

Four to five years ago, Crichton began writing monologues about the legend which she showed to Prout who encouraged her to turn her tale into a play. Three years ago, she presented her first draft which immediately caught Prout's eye and is now a work in progress.

While Crichton is one of the founding members of the Fairfield Theatre, an actress, director and stagehand, the play, she says, is out of her hands and in Prout's.

dancing and music

"My original idea for the play wasn't as a musical. I had said to Dougie it would be nice to have dancing and music, and he added that afterwards, and I think he has done quite a good job with it. I know it is in very good hands," she said.

Those good hands also include a talented array of actors such as Maylynne Walton, Keiran King, Peter Abrikian, Noelle Kerr, Philip Clarke, Karla Josephs, Nyanda Cammock, Marlon Brown, Vincent Bishop, Maliaka Bryce, Michael McGregor, T'yane Robinson and the Fairfield Youth Troupe.

Hoping to one day take the play outside of its hometown of Montego Bay, Crichton believes it will be well received by locals and foreigners alike.

"I think it will be interesting for persons and I'm hoping that a lot of foreigners come to see it because a lot of them visit Rose Hall," she said.