Milly Alcock as Abigail Williams, Brian Gleeson as John Proctor and the cast of The Crucible West End. Credit Brinkhoff-MoegenburgArthur Miller’s groundbreaking 1953 play which has formed part of the theatre repertoire since the first production, is widely viewed as a loose allegory coincident with Joseph McCarthy’s witch-hunt of supposed communist sympathisers in key institutions of the Federal Government of the period. In both circumstances friends and colleagues were pressured to renounce each other during public testimony, causing division, fear of persecution and in the case of Salem, death at the hands of the all-powerful presiding religious zealots.
The characters — John and Elizabeth Proctor and Rebecca Nurse — whose piety, moral fortitude and common sense is sustained to the end of the play, renounce the proceedings triggered by Abigail Williams’ accusations and the collective hysteria which follows. Meanwhile, Thomas Putnam, a landowner of the period, enhances his estate by acquiring parcels of land and property as successive families succumb to the trials. The tragic parallels with Nazi Germany are difficult to ignore.
As John Proctor Brian Gleeson strikes the perfect tone as the flawed and desperate husband trying to save his wife Caitlin FitzGerald from the merciless retribution of Milly Alcock’s Abigail Williams. Meanwhile Fizayo Akinade as Reverend Hale acts as a lone voice of reason as he seeks to maintain the authority of the assizes whilst challenging the seeming determination of Matthew Marsh’s Deputy-Governor Judge Danforth to execute multitudinous townsfolk on the word of a vindictive and persuasive child and her susceptible cohort who collectively assume a trancelike possessed state whenever their subterfuge threatens to be revealed. The ridiculousness (redolent of modern day telly-evangelists inducing euphoria in their congregations) of this spectacle, drew gasps and titters from some audience members. But in an age when suspicion, misinformation and brazen ignorance (from Brexit, climate change deniers and flat-Earthers) holds sway and receives equal air time on social media, it isn’t difficult to conclude that human society has barely progressed in 300 years. Indeed, in certain spheres, it seems to be regressing. The Crucible therefore serves as a timely reminder to all of us to rely on facts and evidence when drawing conclusions and forming opinions.
The West End transfer of Lyndsey Turner’s acclaimed National Theatre production with a set by Es Devlin, runs at the Gielgud Theatre until 2nd September.
