by Howard Richardson & William Berney

Director - Angela George

Set in the Appalachian Mountains and written in the dialect of that region, the play centres on the character of John, a witch boy who seeks to become human after falling in love with a human girl, Barbara Allen. Originally written by Howard Richardson in 1939 as a dramatization of the centuries-old European folk song "The Ballad of Barbara Allen", it was first performed in 1942 under the title Barbara Allen.

Although Dark of the Moon is not a musical, it was originally billed as a "legend with music" and includes a number of traditional folk and revival songs, enhancing the story with authentic local colour. Dark of the Moon is also featured as the 'play within a play' in Stranger Things: The First Shadow which opened in the West End in 2023.

Characters and Plot

Employing a large cast and imaginative settings in the Smoky Mountains, the play recounts the story of John, a strange ‘witch boy’ who upon first beholding the beautiful Barbara Allen immediately falls in love. He abandons his eagle and his other witch companions, and is given human form to woo Barbara and marry her, on the condition that she remains true to him. The marriage is consummated and Barbara gives birth to a witch child whom the townspeople destroy in a superstitious frenzy. In a shocking event during a religious revival, Barbara is forced to betray John thus breaking their spell of love. As she dies, he returns forever to the world of the mountain witches.

Highlighting themes of provincial prejudice, hypocrisy and superstition, this powerful drama nevertheless offers many light, comic moments with such memorable characters as Uncle Smelicue, Marvin Hudgens, Preacher Haggler, Hank Gudger, Burt Dinwitty, Greeny Gorman and Hattie Heffner, not to mention the darker, supernatural world of the Conjur Man and Conjur Woman, the Dark Witch and the Fair Witch.