“Witch” (2018) by Jen Silverman has no witches, but you do meet a string of memorable characters. It had its Philadelphia premiere this weekend at Mt. Airy’s Quintessence Theatre, and the play has been gaining momentum as it travels around the country.

“Witch” is a takeoff on “The Witch of Edmonton” (1621) by Rowley, Dekker and Ford, a classic Jacobean drama that concerned the real-life execution of Elizabeth Sawyer for witchcraft. Though not blameless, the playwrights suggest that Elizabeth is the victim of a morally suspect, social and political order.

Silverman re-imagines the play from a modern feminist viewpoint (it is subtitled “A Riff on The Witch of Edmonton”). Her schema is a bit on the nose. Six characters are adrift in an unintegrated world. The two women are pragmatic and clear-sighted, while the four men are cads, fools or both.

Maura Krause directs a polished show. The production is lush. Kelly Myers’ costumes suggest character and, thanks to Thomas Cholnacky and Sean Bradley, choreography and fight scenes are well staged. JoJo Glodek’s light design punctuates changes in power relationships. For example, in the beginning, bursts of colored light signal the devil’s apotheotic arrival, while their gradual cessation hints at his diminishing power over Elizabeth.

Scenic designs at Quintessence Theatre are always a surprise. Here, the audience straddles a runway stage. Elizabeth Sawyer resides at one end in a makeshift wooden hut. Sir Arthur, a powerful man of property, lives in a castle at the other end. Isy Kessler’s set embodies social stratification, while Liz McDonald’s atmospheric prop design captures the contrasting domains of lord and peasant woman.

“Witch” had the audience chuckling all night. Some of the humor is driven by language. Although we are in Jacobean times, you are pleasantly jarred to hear characters use our conversational speech, with filler words such as “like” and the semi-metaphorical shortcuts of the Zoomers’ digital world.

But actors do the most to make the show quietly funny. As the devil, Scratch, Frank Jimenez is more impish than evil, a confident, happy-go-lucky soul salesman. As Cuddy Banks, the physical movement and timing of Trevor William Fayle elicit the comic pathos of a closeted gay man.

Frank Thorney is Cuddy’s nemesis, a social climber out to rob Cuddy of his inheritance. Abdul Sesay helps create an ironic portrait of a confidence man, who comes a cropper (that’s British slang for a failure) because he cannot fully scuttle his lingering sense of decency. Steven Rishard is quietly hilarious as Sir Arthur Banks. The only character Silverman wholly created, Sir Arthur is a ludicrous mix of deep feeling and superficiality.

In Silverman’s schema, the women characters stand in sharp contrast to this pack of fools. Winnifred, played by Imani Lee Williams, is a dignified servant-class girl who struggles to find her way in a paternalistic world. But the Grand Prix must go to Suli Holum. As Elizabeth Sawyer, she has a million and one facial expressions, physical movements and surprise turns of phrase.

Though billed a tragicomedy, in “Witch” comedy has the upper hand. Its tragic aspect is also a call to action. Elizabeth sets the tone with the first lines of her opening monologue: “I’m not arguing for the end of the world but then again maybe I sort of am. This one, anyway. The hard stop. The full re-set. Burn it all down and start over.” Unlike Cuddy and Frank, she will not sell her soul to Scratch.

In the end, she wins over the devil. In a sly jab at capitalism, a befuddled Scratch confesses to “having a little difficulty at the moment in this particular industry.” The devil looks to make a career change. In his final monologue, Scratch echoes Elizabeth: “But what if there is something amazing ahead and all we have to do is burn down everything we know to get to it? I find it so hard to have hope right now. I just find it so hard to have hope.”

Quintessence Theatre is located at 7137 Germantown Ave. “Witch” will run through Oct 25. Tickets are available at 215-987-4450 or online at Quintessencetheatre.org.