Richard Armitage as John Proctor. Photo© Johan Persson
Reviewed by James Karas
Arthur Miller’s The
Crucible receives a stunning production at the Old Vic Theatre in
London. It is the type of play that leaves you breathless by its sheer power
and overwhelming drama. If you can catch several such productions in a year,
count yourself extremely lucky.
The Crucible is about the witch trials in Salem, Massachusetts in
the spring of 1692 but it is about much more than that. The initial inspiration
for the play was the House Un-American Committee hearings (the McCarthy witch-hunts
of the 1950’s) but if you know nothing about them, it makes little difference.
There are witch-hunts all around us and the play should resonate with everyone.
As astonishing drama, it has few competitors in American dramatic literature.
The Old Vic has been turned into
a theatre in the round. There are seats on and around the stage leaving a relatively
small acting area. The spectators on the stage are of course right in the
action. That leaves no room for a set except for a couple of tables, some
chairs and a bed as required.
The Crucible offers several great roles and the production, directed
with astonishing ability by Yaël Farber has some remarkable performances.
Richard Armitage takes on the role of John Proctor, a decent farmer accused of
being in league with Lucifer. Armitage’s Proctor is a man of moral and physical
strength despite having strayed once. He is sufficiently humane to refuse to attend
the local church run by the Reverend Paris who knows about sin, evil and hell
but nothing about love, forgiveness and humanity. Armitage’s display of tragic
strength and grandeur is simply unforgettable.
The leader of the seekers of
Satan (he is in fact a “judge”) is Deputy Governor Danforth played by Jack
Ellis. The search for witches is initiated by hysteric young girls but Danforth
is a smart, closed-minded bigot who genuinely believes that Satan can occupy
people’s souls and that he, Danforth, is able to exorcise him. Ellis as
Danforth displays the deadly force that a bully can possess to intimidate and
terrorize people.
Michael Thomas plays Reverend
Paris as a small, weak, foolish and selfish man and, as if that were not
enough, he is also very nasty.
Reverend John Hale (Adrian
Schiller) is equally convinced of the existence of witches but he soon realizes
his error and with the exception of Proctor and the decent people of Salem who
are imprisoned and executed, he is the most tragic person in the drama. He sees
and knows what is happening but cannot stop it.
The hysterics of the young girls
when they are “possessed” by the Devil is frightful and convincing.
Decency, rational thinking, even
common sense do not stand a chance against the rampaging hysteria of the girls,
the powerful and self-satisfied bullying of Danforth, the selfishness of Paris
and the willing cooperation of some townspeople. A mixture of self-interest and perhaps, and only perhaps, genuine belief propel people to do awful
things to others.
This is an enthralling production
that will move you and infuriate you. Even though I know almost every line of
the play, I was captivated by every turn in the plot as if such unreason could
not exist and if it did there will be a vindication of the innocent and not an
execution.
The witch-hunts of the 1690’s,
1950’s and of today are still with us.
_____
The Crucible by Arthur
Miller continues until September 13, 2014 at the Old Vic Theatre, The Cut,
London, England. http://www.oldvictheatre.com/
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