University of Adelaide Theatre Guild. Little Theatre. 6 Aug 2016
Director Geoff Brittain has exorcised a devilishly intelligent, tense and driven production from Arthur Miller's The Crucible. Miller wrote the play in 1953 in response to the activities of the US Congress spearheaded by Senator Joe McCarthy in their hunt for Communists. Miller thought it must have been life imitating art imitating life when he himself appeared in front of the House of Representatives' Committee on Un-American Activities in 1956. In short, it's a witch hunt, which actually sort of happened as presented in the play, in Salem, Massachusetts, in 1692. The Crucible is also one of the great four of Arthur Miller - the others being A View From The Bridge, All My Sons, and of course, Death Of A Salesman.
Brittain sets the action in what could pass as a manger - a plausible metaphor copasetic with the religious background of the play and Miller's penchant for grand language. I got all that from some straw on the floor and a wooden door. The action starts juicily enough with some girls undergoing wild gyrations in a psychedelic romp led by a Barbados slave (played with exotic abandon by Rhoda Sylvester). One thing leads to another, and before you know it, the girls are accused of flying, etc., and are egged on by the elders to name which good townspeople are doing the bewitching. Miller creates thrilling predicaments of moral hazards which are excellently dramatised by this wondrous cast of character actors.
It's not easy to pretend you're in 17th Century Salem using Miller's turn of phrase, but the vernacular was music to my ears. Trudi Williams' costumes and Richard Parkhill's lighting were a huge help, as were some projected period woodcuts of Satan's mischief, but the absence of a crucifix on the wall or around a reverend's neck was noted.
The young girls, led by Zoe Dibb as Abigail, were quite spooky at times. There was terrific eccentricity on offer from the likes of David Haviland, John R. Sabine, Esther Michelsen, Philip Lineton, Jean Walker, and Deborah Walsh playing the elderly local yokels. You could imagine the beads of sweat appear on Steve Marvanek's brow as his Deputy Governor Danforth (chief prosecutor) exquisitely felt the pressure of condemning to death as the witchery unraveled. Ben Todd was the weirdest Reverend Hale I have witnessed and it kinda worked. The protagonist farmer John Proctor as played by Kim Clark was wonderfully understated and contrasted nicely with others who were less cool and shouted a bit too much. Cheryl Douglas as John's wife, Elizabeth, also rendered a beautifully measured performance. Notwithstanding the above, there was some drama left on the table by these two and Danforth in the climactic scenes at dawn in the dungeon.
This is a very real and exciting Crucible indeed. Bravo!
David Grybowski
When: 6 to 20 August
Where: Little Theatre
Bookings: trybooking.com
