The Crucible

Synopsis

Salem, Massachusetts 1692. When the stories of three local girls are taken as gospel, a small village populated by Puritans and petty local rivalries, is thrown into panic by talk of witchcraft. The community begins to purge itself, and as accusations fly suspicion alone is accepted as evidence. Written during the vigorous and unscrupulous investigations of Senator J R McCarthy in 1950's America. The Crucible is a timeless portrayal of communal hysteria and the evil of mindless persecution.

Our Review:

6 April 2006

There are some plays whose time is always now, and Arthur Miller’s The Crucible - ostensibly a study of the Salem witch hunt in 1692, but in reality a portrait of any community in the grip of mass hysteria and moral paranoia - is one of them.

You might argue – I frequently do – that the difference between good drama and great theatre is the ability of the latter to strike a rich metaphorical vein while enthralling an audience with detail of argument and character.

In the 20th-century repertoire, you would be hard pushed to find a better example than The Crucible (1953) which, alongside Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard (1904), best illustrates, and with ominous precision, the way of the world in the destiny of its characters.

Dominic Cooke’s revival for the Royal Shakespeare Company was acclaimed in Stratford-upon-Avon in March and arrives in the West End, all guns blazing, under the joint production banner of [Bill Ken...

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Latest User Review

84.12.75.68) - 7 June 2006:

Great, great theatre. Spellbinding - even though I had seats in the Upper Circle and could only see half the stage. Never sit in the Upper Circle at the Gielgud. Awful seats. ...

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