After The Applause

As I enter the pit of the beautiful Globe Theatre, I see it has undergone a transformation. Weaving in and out of the pit are the towns folk of Salem, men hold rifles and point them as they demand us to move and the women sow the seeds on large platforms erected that us audience members all gather around. I see Reverend Paris (Steve Furst) praying next to the sleeping Betty Parris (Scarlet Nunes) and I am already immersed in the twisted, dark tale of Arthur Miller’s The Crucible…

This decision to utilise the pit as a tool for immersion is often deployed simply to just use the space effectively, however for The Crucible it felt vital that this was used in order to truly bring it to life. I additionally enjoyed the choice of period costume to fit in with The Globe’s authentic aesthetic as well as allowing actors to use their natural accents rather than offer us their attempts at American ones.

The cast are strong, led by Gavin Drea as a violent and aggressive John Proctor and Hannah Saxby as a slightly clumsy and desperate Abigail Williams. The ensemble do well in creating atmosphere, The Crucible requires a good supporting cast to carry the feeling of deep tragedy and evil that seeps through the fabric of Salem. I really felt that Gareth Snook was a terrific Deputy Governor Danforth and he played his character with a slight wit and flamboyancy about him rather than just a stone faced judge with no personality. Other key performances came from Steve Furst as the desperate Reverend, Bethany Wooding as the defiant Mary Warren and Howard Ward as an absolutely hilarious portrayal of Giles Corey, a simple farmer who is driven to insanity by the loss of his wife.

Where my main problem lay with this production was with the odd decision to direct it with a drizzle of humour placed within even the darkest of scenes. The Crucible is a play that is meant to essentially devastate and captivate audience’s with its powerful narrative and dark conclusion and I felt that the humour, especially towards the final moments of the play, was unnecessary and didn’t bring anything and rather it felt it took away from Miller’s famous script. Whilst towards the beginning it established the relationships between the residents of Salem and especially humour was needed for Giles’ dopey character. However, in all honesty having previously seen the National Theatre version I do not remember a single laugh throughout. It was an odd decision that I didn’t feel paid off

MY VERDICT:

A good production of The Crucible unfolded on the wonderful Globe stage, it felt the perfect platform for this play due to its amazing pit that can be used to immerse and to bring the story from just the stage to actually within the audience. The costume works well and the use of music throughout helps add to the tension, especially with the screeching of a violin whenever witchcraft is mentioned. It is a subtle detail that I felt was really clever, the whole use of music definitely elevated this production. It falls down on its use of humorous direction in a play that is quite the opposite, however the actors put on a great performance and there are still those moments of sincere tension we relate to The Crucible. I would say this is a production worth watching, whilst not outstanding if your in the pit it truly brings the play alive and that is something so unique to The Globe, it’s just a part of the theatre’s nature!

My standout performers were:

Hannah Saxby, Steve Furst, Howard Ward and Gavin Drea

The Crucible is playing at The Globe Theatre until the 12th July. There are still plenty of seats available, with groundling pit ticket’s going from £5 it is certainly worth a look!