Reviews

The Crucible

Editorial Staff

This performance of Arthur Miller’s classic is brought to the fringe as part of the American High School Theatre Festival. The director, Kevin Schwartz has chosen to ditch the modest, Puritan dress of the late seventeenth century, cladding his cast in modern dress and furnishing the stage with iPads and iPods; however, I’m not sure that the play’s themes become any more prominent as a result of this particular envisaging.

The cast are certainly passionate in their performance, but there are moments when the urgency seems a little forced, and this is not helped by the crudeness of the sound design which clumsily fades in and out at moments of emotional tension.

What is most important in a performance of The Crucible, however, is that the audience feels baffled at the irrational decisions made by the authorities and alarmed at the growing hysteria of the public. Although these sentiments are sometimes brought to the foreground, they are not consistently realised throughout the play.

– Charlotte Pegram