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Written by Arthur Miller in 1953, The Crucible is a tale of persecution in the Puritan community of Salem, Massachusetts in the year 1692. Rumors of witchcraft fill Salem when a young girl falls in a coma-like state. With no explanation from the doctor and the knowledge that some young girls had been seen dancing in the forest the day before, it is believed that witches have come to attack Salem. The town breaks out into chaos and over one hundred women are persecuted for witchcraft and most are sent to the gallows. Desperate, John Proctor attempts to persuade Governor Danforth that his wife, Elizabeth, and the other women accused of witchcraft are in fact innocent.
I was very impressed upon viewing this play. The acting was amazing and very well communicated towards the audience. With the extremely difficult 1600s English dialect, the actors were still able to communicate their feelings through their expressions and body language. The play itself was very hard for me to understand because of the dialect used in this time period, but I was able to follow along due to the actors’ style. Each actor portrayed their character in a very unique manner.
Cassidy Southern as Elizabeth Proctor struck me as very impressive. She used her facial expressions perfectly to show the audience her feelings. Her acting seemed so real to me. She was able to get the audience to feel how she was feeling.
Anders Ove as John Proctor was a great decision on the part of director, Deborah Frauenholz. With each body motion, facial expression, and statement, he was able to show his feelings/opinion toward the subject at hand. The way that Anders used his voice was very impressive as well. He was able to be mellow and controlled at points, but also be loud and argumentative at others. His straightforward attitude helped the audience to understand what was happening during each plot point.
As Abigail Williams, Angie Tozzie acted in a very mysterious manner, which portrayed the play perfectly. At certain parts of the play she was able to act very mellow, while at other parts she acted almost insane. I was very impressed with how she held herself during her scenes and how she was able to make the audience very excited over what was occurring in the plot. Each scene that included her was very dramatic and perfectly done.
Alexey Stern as Reverend Hale was very impressive in the way that he used his expression and body language to show his guilt. Quinn Theobald portrayed Governor Danforth perfectly by using his bellowing voice to display the governor’s controlling manner. Gabriella Walko as Mary Warren used her expressions wisely. At some points she was sweet and innocent and at others she was very guilty.
Lastly, my favorite character was Vi Skillen as Tituba. Vi was able to create an accent for herself since her character is from Barbados. I found her accent to be very well done and impressive.
In conclusion, The Crucible was performed very well and I thoroughly enjoyed the play. The emotion portrayed to the audience through the actors was absolutely necessary for this play to be successful. The cast and crew of The Crucible succeeded in flawlessly showing their emotions.
