'The Crucible' at the National Theatre

Arthur Miller's 'The Crucible' is the latest revival at the National Theatre. It has only just opened in preview so there are no production photos but there are some rehearsal photos. I read 'The Crucible' many years ago at school (it was on the 'O' Level syllabus and, judging from the audience, it is again) but had never seen it performed. It's not often performed and I'm not sure why not when I've seen several of Miller's other plays performed and they're all suitably wordy. 'The Crucible' is also rather wordy with lots of repetition.

I suspect we all know the outline of the play about the Salem 'witches', how the local girls of the town are caught dancing in the woods at night and word of evil spirits possessing them starts to spread. When the ringleader, Abigail, starts to use this to get back at women - and then men - in the town, accusing them of sending spirits to torment her, the other girls join in and what was a bit of fun becomes deadly serious. The townsfolk accused of witchcraft are gradually put on trial and, if they don't confess, are hanged. There are sub-plots and twists and turns on the way (it is a drama, after all), particularly farmer John Proctor who had sex with Abigail while his wife was ill and she's convinced that he loves her. He doesn't. Miller uses the historic events as a way of commenting on the contemporary wave of anti-communism (in American terms, anyone vaguely left-wing) witch-hunts under McCarthy in the '50s.   

When you walk into the Olivier Theatre you see a spectacular curtain of rain around the stage which looked fab but I've got no idea what it has to do with the play other than looking spectacular. Some people in the front row were complaining about being splashed by the falling water splattering off the stage. I loved the look of it but it was always a surprise when it started splooshing at different times throughout the production. I also liked the stripped back, mainly empty stage, emphasising that it's the action and the words that count. Well done to director Lyndsey Turner and set designer Es Devlin. It'll be interesting to see what, if anything, is re-worked during the previews.

I liked Brendan Cowell as John Proctor but a bit more range of emotion would have been good and I really liked Eileen Walsh as his put-upon wife Elizabeth. I thought she was very consistent in approach and characterisation. Erin Doherty was suitably malevolent and innocent as Abigail, the ring-leader of the girls and I grew to like Fisayo Akinade more as his character developed (one of the few characters to actually grow throughout the play). It was also fun to see Karl Johnson as Giles on stage for the first time after seeing him on telly and in films for years. It'll be interesting to see how this play does as it finds it feet and the cast start to fully gel.