Gielgud Theatre – booking until 2 September 2023
5*****
Reviewed by Claire Roderick
Another brilliant transfer from the National Theatre, The Crucible is as relevant and thought provoking as ever. Director Lyndsey Turner evokes the claustrophobic, isolated atmosphere of Salem on Es Devlin’s imposingly stark set with its rain curtain, and Tim Lurkin’s lighting design ominously marking the passing of time.
The Salem witch trials are ingrained in American history. The accusations of witchcraft and testimonies of a group of young girls saw 19 people hanged and many others imprisoned and the mood of paranoia and truth twisting was raw when Arthur Miller wrote the play surrounded by the damage done by McCarthy’s Anti-Communist campaign.
Miller frames the origins of the girls’ accusations around the jealous longings of a young girl spurned by her married employer, but the adults seize on the idea of witchcraft and soon petty rivalries and feuds become the driving force, with the girls merely a haunting silent presence at the back of the stage. In this production, it is very clear that the children have become handy instruments in the persecution of anyone not conforming to the Salem elders’ standards. The court scenes are wonders of cyclical thinking as Deputy Governor Danforth (Matthew Marsh) and the court officers issue warrants for anyone speaking out against the trials, as they must surely be against God.
The actors playing the girls are a wonderful ensemble, childlike and side-lined individually, but spellbinding and eerily powerful as a group. Milly Allcock is a sympathetic Abigail Williams, old enough to love John Proctor, but still a child emotionally and relishing her newfound voice and power. Allcock stands statue-like, used to being ignored, as Abigail listens to the men, and her sudden physicality when under stress or “enchantment” is marvellously affecting. Brian Gleeson is wonderfully tortured as John Proctor, the guilt of his affair with Abigail hanging over his head in every interaction with his wife (Caitlin FitzGerald). The pivotal confession of his sin with Abigail and the “my name” scenes are gut wrenching as Gleeson physically unravels onstage in a magnetic performance. Tilly Tremayne, Colin Haigh and Karl Johnson are delightful as the older townspeople caught up in the witch trials, providing much of the humour and common sense in the play. Fisayo Akinade also impresses with his finely nuanced performance as Reverend John Hale, dedicated and sure of his cause when he first comes to Salem, but a broken man as he realises what he has helped put in motion.
Powerful and urgent, The Crucible is a sublime production.