It is a dramatized and partially fictionalized story of the Salem witch trials that took place in the Province of Massachusetts Bay during 1692 and 1693. Miller wrote the play as an allegory of McCarthyism, when the U.S. government blacklisted accused communists.
Starring Ben Whishaw as John Proctor, Tony winner Sophie Okonedo as his wife Elizabeth Proctor, Saoirse Ronan as Abigail Williams, and Ciaran Hinds as Deputy-Governor Danforth.
The production will be directed by Ivo van Hove, and will have scenic and lighting design by longtime van Hove collaborator Jan Versweyveld, costume design by Wojciech Dziedzic, and an original score by Philip Glass. Additional casting and design team will be announced at a later date.
Arthur Miller's 1953 drama The Crucible is a big play -- big ideas, big cast, big emotions. In a season of multiple Miller celebrations...Ivo van Hove's lucid and often mesmerizing production at the Walter Kerr Theatre honors all of those big factors without overwhelming us -- unless it's by the sheer impact of a company so right in nearly every detail, from the major roles to those less so...Van Hove and his incomparable troupe -- led by beautifully felt performances from Ben Whishaw (The Danish Girl), Sophie Okonedo (Hotel Rwanda) and Soairse Ronan (Brooklyn) -- play it straight. I think the impact must be quite similar to that felt by theatergoers 63 years ago.
Ronan is convincing as chief mean girl Abigail Williams, with her mouth set in a hard line and her eyes narrowed. I liked her performance, but didn't necessarily see Abigail as someone capable of whipping up the frenzy relied on in 'The Crucible'...While I'm confident Miller believed in the power of mankind to manipulate and be manipulated, I'm rather sure his 'witch hunt' was metaphorical. Theatrical flourishes here -- girls suspended in mid-air, windstorms, what appears to be a wolf wandering alone on stage -- suggest van Hove prefers it an open-ended question. That added an unanticipated layer to the nearly three-hour proceedings.
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