Review by Tatum Stafford
Tim Murray is WITCHES ticks all the boxes – it’s hilarious, full of pop culture references, and hosted by the extremely charismatic Tim. Before I dive into the details, I feel it’s imperative that I tell you to book a ticket!
As the lights dimmed, and a green hue came over the stage, Tim entered dressed as schoolgirl Elphaba (fellow musical theatre fans will know), complete with braided dark wig, painted green. The audience were abuzz and we knew we were in for something special.
The show is a love letter to witches and all things witchy, including Wicked (duh), Sabrina the Teenage Witch, The Blair Witch Project, a brief Harry Potter interlude and The Craft.
Tim is a master on the mic. The show is chock full of hilarious original songs, which are interspersed with stand-up and some of the best crowd work I’ve ever seen. He was lightning-fast, and it was particularly funny to watch him navigate accents amongst the audience members he spoke to (myself included, as an Australian). Tim has a remarkable skill in making everyone feel comfortable and at ease; ready to chat to him about witches, or anything at all, really.
It’s clear that Tim’s audience are keen to interact with him, and he hits every conversation out of the park. Tim shared a few funny stories about his experience as a teacher, some of his most memorable stand-up gigs (including a moment on a gay cruise), and gave us an insight into his childhood and how he always enjoyed dressing up as witches.
A clear audience favourite was the round of ‘guess that Elphaba’, where audience member Sophie got up onstage to challenge Tim to a quiz based on Elphaba’s famous Defying Gravity riff. On a more sentimental level, it was really touching to watch his face light up with each clip (which were each a surprise to him), as Wicked and witchy media are obviously very near and dear to his heart.
The bait and switch, however, was the absolutely beautiful song that closed the show, which was about queer people finding their ‘coven’ to stand strong with. This was such a perfect way to close out the hour, and it had a very profound impact on the audience.
This show really is something that has to be seen rather than described, so I’d urge you to snap up a ticket to see Tim in all his majesty. Trust me, you’ll have a guaranteed great time.
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