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Theatre Sun Mar 21 2010
Infamous Commonwealth Theatre's Production of The Crucible
Arthur Miller's The Crucible is the first full production of Infamous Commonwealth Theatre's 2010, redemption-themed season. The classic telling of the 1692 Salem witch trials, with political parallels drawn in response to the McCarthy Trials of the 1950's, is a fitting choice for the topic of redemption, and with some great performances, it was a quality kick-off for ICT's season.
A group of girls, led by Abigail Williams, played by Elaine Ivy, brought the necessary balance of innocence and evil as the inciters of the witch hunt. Ivy allows the wicked nature of Abigail Williams to command the set and plays out the lies with infuriating deception- ultimately bringing about the deaths of many innocent people. Mary Warren, played by Nancy Friedrich, is the most innocent of the girls- frequently caught between a petty desire to please her friends and a moral obligation to God and her fellow townspeople. Friedrich allowed for some delightfully comic moments with her quirky behavior and a melodramatic involvement with the town's trials.
Reverend Parris, played by Stephen Dunn, is the overzealous priest who has turned a bad taste for religion in much of his congregation. Perhaps befitting of the character, Dunn played the part with such exaggerated facial expressions that it was difficult to concentrate on other characters when he took the stage. The flamboyantly heartless characteristics, reminiscent of a caricatured Johnny Depp pirate, became distracting towards the final scenes, but he nonetheless succeeded in inciting frustration and disgust in his character's pathetic attempts to save face.
The Proctor couple, played by Jennifer Matthews and Craig C. Thompson, succeeded in creating the emotional fulcrum of the production. Their performances were heartfelt and believable, as a struggling couple whose love rises above the judgment of the church, and the moral traps of the witch trials. Thompson, whose character must pay for the adulterous relations he had with Abigail Williams, is loveably flawed and struggling to find the good within his own heart.
Arthur Miller's story, which forces audience members to contemplate the power of media and its effects on public opinion, was played out by ITC with ease and charm. The personality that the cast member's brought to this high school reading staple brought energy and intrigue to The Crucible, and made it a classic worth revisiting.
