THE CRUCIBLE Selfie from Rachel Z.

 

Walking into the Old Vic Theatre, the space was already set up with chairs and the audience was encouraged to walk across the stage. The audience therefore seemed very much a part of the play. We were invited to explore the idea of redemption and forgiveness throughout the play itself. We were also given the opportunity to judge the characters for ourselves and watch as the characters developed and struggled with coming to terms with there own fates.

I had never read The Crucible, by Arthur Miller and knew little about what the play was going to be about. Kaley and I read the review outside of the theatre. I was a little concerned about how dark the play was really going to be. When we walked into the theatre, it was dark and had an eerie feel to the atmosphere of the play.

The idea of witchcraft plays an important role throughout the play and is the main plot line. The play begins with Betty, who is pretending to be ill or possessed by spirits, and Abigail telling the Reverend Parris that they had been dancing in the woods and that this was the cause of the illness. These leads into ideas such as truth telling and how much lies can affect peoples’ lives. 

The play itself was deeply rooted in truth telling and understanding how our actions affect the people around us that we love. This can be seen through John Proctor, (Richard Armitage) and Abigail Williams (Samantha Colley). We find out early in the play that John Proctor and his wife Elizabeth Proctor had asked Abigail to leave their house for a mysterious reason. That reason was that John had an affair with Abigail. This is reviled early on during the opening scene. John confronts Abigail about his action. Abigail acts out by telling John that they can still be together and that Elizabeth is to blame for his behavior. Abigail is unable to accept that she and John can not be together. I think that this affects their relationship and Abigail actions throughout the trials. Abigail uses this to her advantage to have Elizabeth arrested for witchcraft.  

Confession also plays an important role. John confesses to Elizabeth his sin. Another character, Giles Corey confesses that his wife has been reading books and he wants to know why. The relationship between Reverend John Hale also plays an important role with the idea of confession because he is the one who comes with his books to diagnose witchcraft in the village.  By the end of the play Reverend Hale realizes that he should be ministering to the women instead of accusing and punishing them for witchcraft. Due to the fact that the audience is so physically close to the action, we took on a vulnerable part. The audience was trusted with very intimate conversations such as with John confesses to Elizabeth and so we were receiving knowledge before the other characters.

The idea of promises plays an important role between Elizabeth and John. Elizabeth tells John that he was wrong to break his promise that he made to her. Towards the end of the play, John seeks forgiveness from Elizabeth and they are both are able to forgive each other. Elizabeth also realizes that she has not been a good wife and that she understands why John might have had the affair. Elizabeth can also not confess to witchcraft because she believes that she would be telling a lie.

 Lies become very central to the play, because the girls are pretending that things are happening to them and that people in the village during the trials are placing a curse of them. The leaders in the town seem to be placing their trust in a group of people that are influencing life and death decisions. For example, stone crushes Giles’ body because he is unable to confess to something that is untrue and his last words were “add more stone”. Giles is unable to lie, because he wants to confess what is true.

John confesses his crime to the people in the courthouse, but rips up his confession because knowing that it is going to be placed on the church door makes John realize that the town and his sons are going to see this confession. He knows that it is going to affect his relationship with people around him. He does not what to hurt others around him. Elizabeth takes this as a form of redemption and states, “he had his goodness now. God forbid I take it from him”.

The audience during the play was given the opportunity to make their own decision if the girls were pretending or this was a real thing. Though there was never a time where the audience was directly asked this, it was always implied. The story itself, becomes a story of redemption and forgiveness in a place where the town is littered with pride and lies that drive people’s lives.