The Crucible at The Old Vic

The Crucible at The Old Vic

I have seen many productions of Arthur Miller’s superb play, The Crucible, and none have moved me in the way Yael Farber’s offering does.  Everything conspires to turn this account of the Salem witchhunt into the thriller it should be.  From the inspired choice of performing it in the round, drawing in the audience from all sides, to Tim Lutkin’s murky lighting and the spine tingling opening, ensures that the tension is heightened from the word go.  It may last for an extraordinary three and a half hours, but not once does the director lose her grip by letting the tension and oppressive atmosphere lax. 
Arthur Miller wrote the play in the 1950’s as an allegory of McCarthyism, when the US government blacklisted accused communists.  It centres around the Salem witch trials that took place in Massachusetts during 1692 and 1693. 

A god-fearing community is left reeling when several of their young girls are rumoured to be dancing naked in the woods alongside Reverend Parris’s Barbadian slave, Tituba.  Hysteria rises when his, supposedly sick daughter, Betty, is accused of witchcraft.  If she is guilty of such a crime, then the majority of the local girls and women could be too. The main protagonist to all these shenanigans is Abigail Williams who, as a woman scorned, has a hidden agenda.  It transpires that local farmer, John Proctor, had an affair with the young Abigail whilst she worked for him and his then, sick, wife, Elizabeth.  He realises immediately what a mistake he has made, but has no idea at first as to what extent.  Not only is his marriage threatened but eventually his life.

I really cannot fault any performance in this spine tingling production.  The young girls are choreographed to within an inch of their lives.  Frequently speaking as one, writhing and shaking their long hair in unison, screeching and howling, they are a creepy tour de force.  Sitting in the front row, I was transfixed and for a split second wondered if indeed the devil was at work.  This aspect of the play can often seem contrived and embarrassing, but not here. 

 it isn’t all noise and hysteria.  The scene between the brooding hulk, John Proctor (an excellent Richard Armitage), and his wife, Elizabeth (Anna Madeley) is touchingly quiet and still.  Much is said without speech and they portray the wronged wife and guilty husband magnificently.  Their love for one another is never in question and totally affirmed in the final few moments of the play when they embrace for the final time.  Anna Madeley’s dignity is in such sharp contrast to Samantha Colley’s immoral Abigail and all credit to them both.  It is Samantha’s professional stage debut and will surely not be her last.  She is bewitching and my, how you dislike her.  It does seem churlish to single out individual performances but Adrian Schiller as the Reverend John Hale was excellent.  His realisation that justice has definitely not been done is beautifully portrayed.  And Natalie Gavin does an exquisite job playing the terrified Mary Warren.  Her fear of the very scary Abigail is extremely credible.

At times, the shouting can be overused, but this doesn’t detract from the fact that The Old Vic has done it again.  This Crucible is electrifying and because I was so gripped by the happenings on the almost bare, shadowy lit space in front of me, the long running time didn’t matter one jot.