The Sorceress: Drama Review

On Wednesday 11 November 2026, Chronicle.lu got the opportunity to sit in on the full dress rehearsal of Pirate Productions' The Sorceress which starts a 5-show run on Thursday 12 November.

An original musical tale of rock and metal, The Sorceress combines a medieval story with live rock music, featuring both recognisable songs and some surprises.

The stage musical is written in two acts, with a total of fifteen scenes; the story is set in a medieval kingdom struck by an epidemic, where a renowned herbalist summoned to find a cure is later accused of sorcery. As the kingdom descends into chaos, she is condemned to death and must rely on the help of a natural philosopher, a knight and her loyal fox companion to escape. 

From the outset, the stage is extremely effective with five three-metre high panels acting as screens on which different backdrops are projected, some static, some moving images - whether it is a forest setting or building interior - with amazing artwork offering effective settings and seamless scene transitions. 

After an artistic opening featuring dance and music to set the scene (and era), the audience is gradually introduced to the various characters, initially the Minstrel (Ignacio Gonzalez), Three Witches (Olivia Moore, Katie O'Brien, Chantelle Bonnici), the Knight (Julien Farlin) and the Healer/Sorceress (Madalina Marincu) whose initial monologue introduces the background to what is about to unfold, as well as the Evil Spirit (Caroline Kaufhold (dance); Zoi Ioannidi (voice)) and the Fox (Klaudia Sauerova).

In the next scene, in the castle, we meet Ben (Artemios Vogiatzis) and Bonifacio (Serge Losch) who discuss the epidemic and potential solutions. After a detour to the forest, the audience is brought back to the castle, this time introducing the King (Pino Cipolla) and Queen (Sabine Goedert-Breil) who are introduced to the Sorceress who has five days to find a cure, as they prepare for a banquet.

And later we meet Konrad (Axel Klemetz), Herald (Daniel Halici) and the Peasant (Abdulkarim Alhamwi) to conclude the principal roles. 

The medieval mystery storyline evolves using dialogue, song and dance as The Queen and Boniface accuse the Healer of being a fraud and a Sorceress. Meanwhile, the Knight's son returns from the Kingdom's western region and reports to killing peasants, with those surviving later uprising against perceived injustices, eventually reaching the city. 

After a fifteen minute interval, Act 2 sees the various strands of the storyline converge with treason unfolding within the royal household, a peasant uprising and good facing off aginst evil, with the messaging reflecting modern-day world politics. 

This venue offers one of the best acoustics in the Grand Duchy and emphasises the wonderful live musical score which spans a broad range of genres, from traditional songs such as Scarborough Fair and Fly Away on the Wings of the Wind to rock, jazz, pop and metal pieces, all arranged in a medieval style blended with modern elements.

While the storyline may seem slow at times to unfold, and is certainly not as high tempo as recent productions from Pirates, its quality across the board is undeniably undisputed. The live orchestra, signing and stage setting are the undoubted highlights, playing tribute to the audio and visual aspects of this ambitious production. 

A Large Production

Such a production does not happen overnight: auditions took place in March and rehearsals began in April, with weekly sessions for acting, singing and dance workshops, followed by regular weekend run-throughs from September after a six-week summer break.

For this production, Pirate Productions had a main cast of sixteen on stage, with another seven dancers, the orchestra including no less than fourteen musicians, and over 20 in the chorus, making this a significant production with many, many moving parts.

And apart from the Producer (Spyros Pilos), Writer and Director (Julien Farlin), Co-Directors (Artemios Vogiatzis and Bjorn Clasen) and Musical Director (Eric Gherardi), backstage role included Costume Designer (Michaela Baleba), Choreographer (Caroline Kaufhold), Stage Manager (Dustin Andersen), and another almost 20 roles covering construction, props, backstage work, front-of-house support and other production roles.

Performances and Tickets

The Sorceress runs from Thursday 12 to Sunday 15 November 2026 in the 400-seat main auditorium at the Kinneksbond cultural centre in Mamer, with performances at 19:30 on Thursday 12, Friday 13 and Saturday 14 November, as well as at 14:30 on Saturday 14 and Sunday 15 November. 

Tickets cost €29 (standard) or €17 (reduced) and are available to book via the Pirate Productions website, by tel: 356-339 or email: tickets@pirates.lu. At the time of writing, some tickets are still available.