Bell, Book and Candle

At first glance, Bell, Book and Candle is a lightweight romantic comedy in which love triumphs and all ends happily. And while parallels with Bewitched are unavoidable, John van Druten had more up his sleeve (and in his heart) than just a frothy romp. Ultimately, Bell, Book and Candle is a celebration of being human, in all its messiness and disarray. Van Druten wrote the play in 1950, a time in America when conformity was cherished and “otherness” was considered a dangerous prospect. Into this environment, he places Gillian, a woman who embodies the spirit of otherness. As a witch, Gillian has complete power over her own world, and can craft it to her specifications. However, the one element she can’t control is that sense of otherness, and it is her need to join the outside world that gives life to the play.

For Gillian, this idea of loving another person, of truly being in the world, is not a foregone conclusion, and that is the beauty of her journey. She is confronted with a choice – she can
continue living in her safe world of total control and order or she can join the world of humanity, in all its uncontrolled chaos. Van Druten has set a few ground rules about witchcraft – witches can’t blush, witches can’t cry, witches can’t feel pain, and witches can’t love. These are all attributes of being human; in some ways, they are the flip side of the same coin. We can’t have love without pain. We can’t invest in the world without sometimes blushing and shedding tears. Is this a world Gillian wants to join? And by extension, is this a world that we want to join? At the heart of Bell, Book and Candle is a question: Do we want to be in the world, wholly and completely and without reservation, or do we want to live in a protected world of separateness? If we want to be a member of the human race, we need to embrace the messiness of other people. There will be tears, and there will be shame, and there will be pain. But without loving and being loved, who are we?