The Crucible

Arthur Miller’s Iconic Play about Witchcraft written in 1953 and set in the then British Colony of Salem Massachusetts in 1692 depicts both the Witch Trials of that historical period and is a parody of the McCarthy ‘witch hunt’ for communist sympathisers in 1950’s America. It tells the story of a puritan community that is consumed by hysteria and false accusations of witchcraft after a group of young girls are found dancing in the woods and indulging in forbidden rituals. Fearing punishment, they start accusing each other of witchcraft in order to deflect attention away from themselves, which soon escalates and becomes out of control. The story centres on John Proctor, a man with his own past demons who has to decide whether to confess to witchcraft and live or tell the truth and be executed.

AFDS’s set designed by Natalie Shearer certainly captured the spartan period extremely well. The First Act to black tabs had a bare stage with a bed stage right, some spindle round backed period dining chairs and a door build into a flat stage left with a cross above it perfectly depicting the interior of a puritan household. The second scene set to one side in front of the stage, stage left was an open fireplace set into the wall with the appropriate period table and chairs in front of it. The fourth scene, which was the most elaborate was the courtroom scene where the Judges were on a plinth rear centre stage with a recessed square wood panelled background with a large cross on it. To stage right was another panelled door and the same door from the first scene was to stage left. The crosses perfectly set the puritan religious background and created the atmosphere perfectly. Nice job!

Lighting and sound by Paul Horsler completed the atmosphere for the set with some excellent yellow mood lighting which gave it almost macabre look. That really did make it look out of a previous century.

Costumes by Natalie Shearer, Samantha Golton, and the cast were also spot on with classical puritan clothing for both the men and women, with knee length britches for the men and long drab coloured dresses for the women. The bonnets or linen caps for the lades also suited and even the slip-on shoes for the men had been given buckles.  Great attention to details.

The acting in this was excellent with some strong leads. Harry Mason as The Rev Parris, certainly put over a man wresting with his conscience. Mick Platt as John Proctor put this complicated character over extremely well and he certainly knows how to do angry. Sarah Vanstone-Howe was particularly good, perfectly demonstrated in her scene in front of the tabs with Mick Platt, shifting blame to save her own skin, refusing to back down and gradually losing her own conscience as everything becomes out of hand. They certainly showed the dark side of human nature.

Other excellent performances included Josh Rush as Reverend John Hale, Samantha Golton as Elizabeth Proctor, Beatrice Golton Scholes as Mary Warren, Aldo Saralli as the witchfinder, Ezekiel Cheever, Sarah Benjamin as Rebecca Nurse, Karolina Piera-Harris as Susanna Walcot and Emily Venn as Betty Parris.

Well done also to Natalie Shearer (Tituba), Jane Murdock (Ann Putnam), Alaistair Kelly notching up another yet another two characters as Thomas Putnam and John Willard, Lucia Kidman (Mercy Lewis), Emily Venn as Betty Parris, Kev Fitzgerald (Judge Hawthorn), Mal Wells as Witchfinder Deputy-Governor Danforth and Jan Bath (Sarah Good), Mark Thompson (Giles Corey) and Alexander Willmott as Francis Nurse.

A lot of attention had also been put into creating the atmosphere for the audience. The FOH Ticket sellers were dressed in 17th century costumes and only spoke in old English. Any lady not wearing headgear was admonished and made to hold a Bible, or to be precise a show programme which was cleverly styled in the form of a Bible. Neat touch!

This is a complicated play with lots of plots, subplots and characterisations all with their own agenda, so I take my hat off to director Elizabeth Drewett for this well thought out production.  I’ve seen it several times over the years and even been in it 20 years ago as Judge Hawthorne, but still found parts of the various subplots I hadn’t previously fully taken aboard. I also congratulate AFDS for actually filling all twenty parts so well with only one doubling. It’s a huge play to cast and a lot of hard work had obviously been put in to get it to the stage. Well done one and all!

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