'The Crucible' performed at Southeast last week

“The Crucible” was quite engaging. The black walls of the Wendy Kurka Rust Flexible theater made the scenes even more intense. With creepy music playing in the beginning, I knew this was no light-hearted Hans Christian Anderson fairy tale.

Dalton Riddle, who played John Proctor, was brilliant as the angry, guilt-stricken adulterer determined to save his wife. He shone forth as the best. We find out quickly that Abigail Williams, played by Sami Gross, is in love with John Proctor, and for some reason, in her twisted rationale, she believes if she gets the other girls to help her accuse Elizabeth Proctor, portrayed by Hannah Lundy, of being a witch and has her hanged, John will marry her. I knew that was absolutely ridiculous, especially once we find out that Abigail is lying about seeing others with the Devil.

She even admits her scheme several times when she declares her love for John. Abigail becomes not only an adulteress, but she’s also a scheming murderer when John rejects her to remain with his wife. This play’s tagline should be: A Woman Scorned.

The play was absolutely gorgeous, and truthfully the acting, especially the actors who played Elizabeth, John, and Abigail, was heart-wrenching. The only part I found unrealistic was that the actress who played Tituba, who is from Barbados, was Asian. I would never have imagined Tituba, a slave, being Asian. The deputy governor was also African-American. These are not historically accurate because, unfortunately, only white men were in charge of the government in the 1600s. Slaves in North America that era were of African descent.  

Reverend Parris was an overbearing, crabby, greedy man who was never satisfied in life. His daughter was Betty, who was ill in the beginning before she began to accuse people with her cousin Abigail Williams. His part as the accusing, hypocritical reverend was portrayed well.

Danforth had a moment where he couldn’t rise from his seat because his coat was caught in the chair. The coats were long and black - easy to see how they’d be annoying. The costumes, understandably, were all very clean. I was distracted by wondering if they’d really be that clean if they had been around in 1692.

There were two exceptionally well-performed scenes. The midnight scene between John Proctor and his former mistress, Abigail Williams, in which she reveals all her reasons for the accusations, and John tells her to give it up, that they will never be together. He also tells her he will reveal their affair, ruining both of their names, if she does not stop accusing Elizabeth. I could literally feel Abigail’s insane passion and John’s forceful and angry determination to save his wife, especially when he threw Abigail on the ground to make his point.

The scene near the end between John Proctor and his wife made me want to cry, it was so emotional. Elizabeth Proctor struggles to forgive her husband throughout the play for his adultery. The children who accuse her and John of witchcraft want her to get John to confess. When they stare into each other’s eyes I wanted to cry. Love seemed to pour off of them. She tells him to do what he wants, standing there with a straight back as he at first confesses it, then denies it, then is hanged. At the end, Elizabeth, who is saved from being hanged because she is pregnant, says, “He has his goodness. How can I take that away from him?” She stands there straight as a board, sounding as if she’s decided to forgive John. Such the heroine Elizabeth is, and John the tragic hero!  

There were also red lights between each of the scenes. I may be reading into it, but they are probably symbols from the Red Scare of the 1950s, in which many people were accused of being communists by Joseph McCarthy. In fact, when the girls were calling out the names of the accused, Arthur Miller’s name was mentioned as well, a tribute to the play’s author Arthur Miller, who himself was accused.

Misplaced love, a manipulative teenager, an affair, murder, hanging, accusations, betrayal and religious hypocrites against the backdrop of the historical Salem Witch Trials made for a play like something from a Lifetime movie, only better.

Praying you have faith, hope, and love always,

Rachel