The Crucible

The CRUCIBLE a play presented by the Students of St John Rigby College,Gathurst Road, Orrell on Thursday 2nd May, 2019

This highly dramatic play by Arthur Miller is based on the true story of the Salem Witch Trials of 1692/3.  Set in Puritanical, New England in the town of Salem, Massachusetts, where a group of young girls are discovered dancing in the woods by the local minister and talk of witchcraft ensues.  A series of hearings and prosecutions take place and aided by mass hysteria, twenty people are unfairly executed.  Miller's play is multi-faceted, addressing the power of religious beliefs; suppression; the evils of human nature, peer pressure and the importance of being at peace with oneself!  It is a play with a powerful message for anyone who has a social conscience!

This really is a complex piece of theatre, one which ‘pulls no punches’ but which the students of St John Rigby College performed with power and passion. Team work, dedication and effort were shown from the start and were evident throughout. I can only imagine how difficult a piece this was to learn, especially with the strong regional dialects and the many colloquialisms used, all of which had clearly been worked on. Congratulations to Rebecca McDonald (Director) for masterminding this production which was well cast, well performed, fast paced and without doubt ‘thought provoking’. Congratulations to each member of the cast, you should be so proud of what you achieved!

Although there were no real ‘weak links’ I have to say there were some really strong performances which need to be highlighted......

The hero of the story, ‘John Proctor’ played by Callum Mathews and his wife, ‘Elizabeth’ played by Megan Cain both were really well cast. They had a believable relationship which was underlined in a very emotional conversation/discussion at the start of Act 2. Elizabeth, the farmer’s wife, confused by the ongoing events gave a creditable performance and the contrast between John Proctors assuredness in the opening to eventual rage and sadness at the recognition of his acts toward the end were well captured. Both should be really proud of what they achieved.

Amy Gaskell as ‘Abigale Williams’ was excellent.  Amy captured Abigale’s manipulative character to great effect. The scene, toward the end of Act 3, when confusion and hysteria began to take over the room, when she and the girls began ranting and screaming, claiming Mary's spirit was attacking them in the form of a yellow bird was ‘spine tingling’ and very believable!  An excellent performance!

Rhiann Rigby took on the role of ‘Mary Warren’ and played it really well.  Rhiann had the ability to not only show us Mary’s  innocence, but she was also able to commit to the more emotional scenes which allowed us to see the conflict that occurred in Mary’s faith life, as peer pressure was applied by the other girls. Be proud!

Sam Dyson as ‘Reverend Hale’ played this role so well.  His single-minded strength of purpose at the start contrasted so well with the self-doubt that grew towards the end.  Great portrayal of the character!

The role of ‘Reverend Parris’ the domineering, greedy cleric was played by Kian Mockler and Lucy Bache played his daughter ‘Betty’; two more who gave sound performances. 

Kai Platt as ‘Deputy Governor Danforth’ was well cast and gave an assured performance.  There was plenty of ‘light and shade’ in this portrayal of this very authoritative figure ...well done

Among the other actors, there were good performances from Godsfavour Inyang as Tituba, Emma Holland as Rebecca Nurse, Grace McDivitt as Francis Nurse, but as previously stated, there were no real weak links and everybody gave of their best, worked well as a team and produced what was an exceptional play.

What I was particularly impressed by was the ability of all the actors to stay in character even when they were not directly involved in the scene, but still on stage. They stayed in character, looked interested and involved in everything that was going on...facial expressions, mannerisms were really good....

If I may be so bold as to offer some constructive criticism on what I feel is an important issue in any production... ‘Accents/dialects and the spoken word/dialogue’. It’s so easy to start finding fault and identifying individuals who weren’t as strong as others when it comes to this....BUT no matter who is saying what on stage the audience’s ability to hear and understand every word should be your priority, especially in such a complex pieces as this was!   It’s vital that every spoken word is heard and understood....and on the whole this happened.  When I felt it did go slightly astray was when the play gathered pace and actors started to interact emotionally and deliver lines at pace, sometimes I didn’t quite catch some of the dialogue (and I really didn’t want to miss a single word).
On a couple of occasions lines were delivered whilst the actor was facing upstage...remember, if you find yourself delivering in that situation, remember your audience still need to hear every word; so you may need to speak louder; avoid it if you can...but if it’s a necessity or your forced into it, try and ensure nothing is missed by your audience...WE really do want to hear everything!

The set was uncomplicated yet set the perfect tone and allowed for easy access and change, congratulations to Mark Lane, Tony Lane and Joshua Duffy for their time and effort in producing it. Lighting and Sound was good throughout, although there were times when actors went into ‘dark spots’...I felt this may have been actor error, opposed to lighting problems and although it didn’t detract from the overall performance, it’s probably something for actors to take on board...be like a ‘Moth’  like the light.  Again congratulations to Mark Lane and Joshua Duffy for the lighting and Cat Muir and Dallas McGovern for sound.

Last but certainly not least...the costumes were really good, apt and appropriate for the time; every credit to Christine Wall for producing them.

This was my first ever visit to St John Rigby College and I certainly hope it won’t be my last.  Can I take this opportunity to thank everyone at St John Rigby College and David Wall in particular for inviting my wife and I to this production; your hospitality throughout was very much appreciated.

We really do look forward to seeing you for your next production.

 

Jim Briscoe

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