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| Saoirse Ronan as Abigail Williams, Elizabeth Teeter as Betty Parriss, Ashlei Sharp Chestnut as Susanna Walcott, Erin Wilhelmi as Mercy Lewis and Ben Whishaw as John Proctor. Photo: Jan Versweyveld |
Spellbinding Crucible Magically Conjures Contemporary Hatred
By
Lauren Yarger
Some people, fueled by hatred, tell lies about others, threatening their livelihood and perhaps even their lives.
Some people, fueled by hatred, tell lies about others, threatening their livelihood and perhaps even their lives.
A story ripped from today’s headlines about
racial tension in Ferguson, MO, terrorist threats amidst refugees crossing borders
or Christians refusing to obey laws that violate their beliefs?
No
– it’s the plot of Arthur Miller’s play The Crucible about hysteria during the Salem witch
trials getting a spellbinding revival directed by Ivo
Van Hove on Broadway. The message could apply to any of those more contemporary
issues filling our culture with hate, however, so fresh and raw is the
presentation.
Award-winning
film actress Saoirse Ronan is a
chilling Abigail Williams, a young girl who seeks revenge on John Proctor (Ben
Whishaw) who, guilt-ridden after succumbing to her seduction,
allows his godly wife, Elizabeth (Sophie Okonedo) , to turn the servant
girl out of their home when she suspects something might be going on.
.
Abigail enlists the help of other young girls, who may or may
not have joined her in practicing some witchcraft. Betty Parris (Elizabeth
Teeter) has been in a trance since the girls met and apparently danced naked in
the woods, much to the horror of The Rev. Samuel Parris (Jason Butler Harner).
Parris askes the Rev John Hale (Bill Camp) to come investigate.
In the ensuing inquiry and trials which have scores arrested and on trial for their lives, the girls stick together in their story
which implicates innocent townsfolk in witchcraft: Tituba (Jenny Jules),
Rebecca Nurse (Brenda Wehle) and even elderly Giles Corey (Jim Norton). The
madness if fueled when people like the Putnams (Thomas Jay Ryand and Tina
Benko) start to wonder if losing many children at young ages might have been
due to witchcraft and when Abigail refuses to stop her persecution and the
other girls are too frightened to speak against her.
One girl, the Proctors’ new
maid, Mary Warren (Tavi Gevinson), tells the truth, but with disastrous
results. After all, what does the truth matter when society has decided what
you must think and say or lose your life?
The brilliant direction includes setting the play in a school
room (designed by Jan Versweyveld, who
also designs the lighting) and dressing the girls in school uniforms (Costume
Design is by Wojciech Dziedzic). The result is that we see a tale taking place
in late 17th-century Salem, but which could be happening today.
This, of course, was Miller’s intent, as the play was written in response to
the anti-Communism hearings being conducted by the House Un-American Activities
Committee led by Sen. Joseph McCarthy in the 1950s.
The contemporary connection is so
compelling that the pointing of a finger and screaming the word “witch” can be
applied today as people point and scream “Christian!” or “Racist!” You either get on board with politically correct
policies or find yourself ruined – and little care is given to the motivation
of those doing the accusing.
Fascinating in their modern
application also, are messages about the church. There are comments about
people staying away from church because God is hardly mentioned there (a nod
toward today’s churches who opt for popularity over preaching the Gospel). The
10 commandments are written on the blackboard, then obliterated as other things
are written over them Video Design by Tal Yarden, in a nod
to rewriting scripture when we don’t like what it says – and the silence
required about it in our schools).
We have a sheriff of sorts, Ezekiel
Cheever (Michael Braun), and Deputy Governor Danforth (Ciaran Hinds) who don’t
necessarily agree with what is happening around them, but say nothing because they
are just doing their jobs (and don’t want to lose them – remind you of any of
today’s politicians?)
The worst offenders are Judge Hawthorne
(Teagle F. Bougere) who won’t listen to any version of the truth except the one
he wants to hear and Hale, who realizes too late what is happening and then,
because he didn’t do what is right in the first place, is impotent.
Though I have seen other versions
of The Crucible and thought them good
and timely, never before have I been blown out of my seat by the fright of
seeing modern events depicted in such a dark and cunning way. The suggestion
later, in very dramatic special-effect that devil worship might just behind all
of this is particularly chilling and the Original Score by Philip Glass seals
the feeling.
Van Hove is my go-to director now for exciting theater (he
also made A View From the Bridge more
compelling than I ever have seen it earlier this season.)
The Crucible casts its spell through July 17 at the Walter Kerr Theatre, 219 West 48th St., NYC. Performances are Tuesday and Thursday at 7 pm; Wednesday, Friday and Saturday at 8 pm; Wednesday and Saturday at 2 pm; Sunday at 3 pm. Tickets are $42-$149: thecrucibleonbroadway.com; (877) 250-2929.
FAMILY-FRIENDLY FACTORS:
-- God's name taken in vain
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