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.
Van Hove is nothing if not consistent -- just like 'A View from the Bridge,' his approach to 'The Crucible' is alternately striking, lugubrious, and fruit loopy...Whether van Hove is succeeding in his stated goal of stripping away theatrical conventions and cutting to the heart of classic drama -- or, in fact, is doing the opposite, and serving up a 'Crucible' that is affected and artificial -- probably comes down to your personal taste...[Ronan's] Abigail is at once sexually forthright and sadistically righteous; the most nightmarish sorority queen you would never want to cross. As John Proctor, the man who once had an affair with Abigail and who is now suffering the unexpected consequences, the wonderful Ben Whishaw...is wholly commanding, even as he rarely raises his voice. He makes deeply palpable both Proctor's mounting outrage and the man's nagging guilt that his own moral weaknesses are what set this disastrous chain of events in motion.
There are two types of audience members attending Ivo van Hove's The Crucible: those who take their seats and, when the curtain rises, wonder, Why's it set in a classroom? and the other half (please let it be more than half) that nods and thinks, Of course it's in a classroom. Van Hove's electrifying and audacious staging achieves what more revivals should: It makes old work seem new, blows away the dust and exposes caulked cracks...Miller's masterpiece, still a model of post-Ibsenite drama, holds up: Society is forever torn between preserving its power structures and extending freedoms. Those caught in the middle pay the highest price...the cast is ridiculously stuffed with talent...The country beyond the walls of the Walter Kerr may be damned, but inside, Van Hove is wrestling with the angels.
1953 | Broadway |
Broadway |
1958 | Off-Broadway |
Off-Broadway |
1964 | Broadway |
Broadway |
1972 | Broadway |
Broadway |
1990 | Off-Broadway |
Off-Broadway |
1991 | Broadway |
Broadway Revival Broadway |
2002 | Broadway |
Broadway Revival Broadway |
2016 | Broadway |
Broadway Revival Production Broadway |
2019 | Off-Broadway |
Bedlam's Off-Broadway Production Off-Broadway |
2023 | West End |
West End |
Year | Ceremony | Category | Nominee |
---|---|---|---|
2016 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play | Bill Camp |
2016 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Music in a Play | Philip Glass |
2016 | Drama League Awards | Distinguished Performance Award | Sophie Okonedo |
2016 | Drama League Awards | Distinguished Performance Award | Ben Whishaw |
2016 | Drama League Awards | Outstanding Revival of a Broadway or Off-Broadway Play | Arthur Miller |
2016 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Actor in a Play | Ben Whishaw |
2016 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play | Jim Norton |
2016 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Revival of a Play (Broadway or off-Broadway) | The Crucible |
2016 | Tony Awards | Best Lighting Design of a Play | Jan Versweyveld |
2016 | Tony Awards | Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Play | Bill Camp |
2016 | Tony Awards | Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play | Sophie Okonedo |
2016 | Tony Awards | Best Revival of a Play | Arthur Miller's The Crucible |
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