The Crucible

This play written in 1953 by Arthur Miller has to be one of the most iconic plays and difficult for adults to pull off with thought provoking subjects which are as relevant today as they ever were.

This production by the young drama group at Next Generation certainly pulled out all the stops to tackle such a difficult piece. The direction by Michael Jones McCaw kept the pace of the piece and scenes which flowed well with clever use of just props. I liked that the cast were all visible sitting in rows of chairs to the sides of the playing area. This focussed the performers waiting to appear, never allowing anyone to miss a cue or be noisy backstage. I liked the use of the incidental music underneath dialogue but sometimes this meant I couldn’t hear some of the cast because of either too loud music or actors not projecting.

Most of the accents worked well and had clearly been worked on. This is a really difficult piece to learn and I have to say there were some stunning performances. Even first time performers did a really good job and I look forward to seeing everyone in the group grow and learn from each performance they produce. Costuming worked well in the main although there were some modern pieces but this was never distracting and was a performance piece rather than a full costumed show.

Betty Parris was well by Lucy Parris but her crying scene was a little loud drowning out the other actors’ dialogue. However her portrayal looked and sounded just right  for this character.

Harry Williams as Rev Parris came across very well with a dominant personality and great delivery of lines. Amelia Crompton presented a nice Tibuta and in future productions will continue the projection of dialogue throughout to add to the fab characterisation.

Abigail Williams was played superbly by Rhiann Johnson with excellent projection (just be careful in scenes with your back to the audience) and a great characterisation and portrayal of the deeply troubled young woman. George Devlin played the pompous character Thomas Putnam really well with nice snidey looks and believable scenes but projection needs working on so the back of the auditorium can hear.

Abby Bardsley was fantastic as Mary Warren with excellent delivery and emotion of a difficult part. Aimee Chapman also put in a great performance as Elizabeth Proctor whose life (or love) hangs in the balance. Some lovely touching scenes from both of these young actresses.

Amelia Crompton performed well as Rebecca Nurse, Maddie Bate as Mercy Lewis performed nicely as did Kit Fullman creating a believable Giles Corey but projection of voices was an issue here. Rachel Bishop had a couple of roles in this piece and her projection was superb. Projection often comes with experience as its not about shouting but being heard which feels a bit strange to newer actors. The younger performers can learn a lot from Rachel.

Beth Jackson, Toby Fullman and Roshni Palmer-Hill all played their parts very well which tested their characterisations to the limit with male roles for the girls and Toby being so much younger (and considerably smaller) then the rest of the cast. Good work you three.

For me the two stand out performances of the night were Christy Mather as Reverend Hale switching from sinister to troubled protagonist to empathic priest and all looking and sounding very convincing. Christy was never out of character even when the dialogue wasn’t with her. A well worked on and rounded performance.

The second of these stand out performances was from Tom Bain as John Proctor a really difficult role to play with such a journey for the character throughout the play. His commitment to the role was evident and this was a faultless performance from such a young performer with great annunciation and projection even in the quieter touching scenes.

This was a thoroughly engaging piece of theatre from a talented group of performers which left me wanting to ask many questions at the end which is always part of Millers style of writing. Well done to the production team including Roshni Palmer- Hill and Lucy Fullman who also took roles in this production. Well done everyone and I look forward to seeing your next piece. 

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