BESSIE DUNLOP, THE WITCH O DALRY

John Hodgart

By: Association for Scottish Literature
Published in: PDF

Click here to watch John Hodgart’s talk on Bessie Dunlop: The Witch o Dalry plus other videos from the 2021 ASLS Schools Conference. 

Available here as a free PDF download, Bessie Dunlop, the Witch o Dalry is a three-act play for schools suitable for BGE and S3–S4 students. Based on the historical record of Bessie’s ‘confession’ to witchcraft in sixteenth-century Scotland, the episodic structure of the play shows the many characters and events that supposedly made up the catalogue of her crimes, but which in fact testify to her innocence and goodness. Bessie Dunlop, the Witch o Dalry introduces students to different levels and varieties of Scots and English and contains teaching notes, suggestions for classroom activities, and questions for discussion or writing. 

The original version of Bessie Dunlop, the Witch o Dalry was written by John Hodgart and Martin Clarke in 1977. Hodgart rewrote the play for an EIS Drama competition before revising it again for Hodder and Staunton who published it as a school text in 1995. This 2021 shorter edition is the fourth version of the play. 

CONTENTS 
Introduction 
A Note on Spelling and Pronunciation 
Cast List 
Bessie Dunlop, the Witch o Dalry
             Act One
             Act Two             
             Act Three  
Glossary  
Music  
Reading and Discussion Questions, and Other Classroom Activities