The Crucible

  • 2012/2013 Season
  • Performed in Japanese
  • THE PIT

Shortly after Miyata Keiko took over as artistic director, the NNTT kicked off a special series called "Japan Meets – A Look at the Lineage of Contemporary Drama". For the series' seventh installment, we present Arthur Miller's The Crucible. The play, which premiered in 1953, is based on actual events that took place at the end of the 17th century: the Salem witch trials. The Crucible became a cultural touchstone, and stands as a biting critique of the anti-Communist "witch hunting" and McCarthyism which gripped America in the 1950s. Since September 11, 2001, the play has also been discussed for what it says about America's reaction in the wake of the terrorist attacks.
The Crucible won the Tony Award for Best Play, with its portrayal of the weak and the powerful in a society, how mob psychology can lead to panic, and how one man is destroyed by a teenage girl. Directing the play is Miyata Keiko, who has also led students of the NNTT Drama Studio in staging the play as a student production. She worked previously with translator Mizutani Hachiya on last year's acclaimed production of Our Town. The Crucible has also been given a new translation by Mizutani. Through their combined efforts, the subtleties of the work will be explored in even greater depth.

SYNOPSIS

Salem, Massachusetts, spring 1692.
The Reverend Samuel Parris observes Abigail Williams and some other teenage girls dancing naked in the forest late one night, in what looks to be a kind of ritual. The community is scandalized, and the Reverend John Hale, who has experience with exorcisms, is called in. A confluence of circumstances - including a dispute between the Putnam family and old Corey Giles, and a sexual affair that took place between Abigail and the farmer John Proctor - has put the girls in a unique predicament; desperate for a way out, they begin accusing people in the community of witchcraft.
One after another, innocent people are arrested and put to death. Meanwhile, Abigail and the other girls are regarded as saintly. Proctor gets an admission from Mary Warren, a servant in the Proctor household and one of the accusers, that Abigail and the other girls have been lying. It comes too late, however, and Elizabeth, his wife, is also arrested. With Reverend Hale now on his side, Proctor goes to court with plans to testify against Abigail; he asks Judge Danforth to pardon his wife. Tempers flare, and Proctor himself is accused of witchcraft and is promptly arrested.
The season turns from fall to winter. A growing number in the community are having doubts about the witch trials. Sensing that the villagers are turning against her, Abigail flees. Danforth, worried that both the legitimacy of the trials and his own reputation are in jeopardy, tells Proctor he will be spared execution if he will confess to being a witch. Proctor is torn; out of love and concern for his family, he falsely confesses. But ultimately, his conscience will not let him betray the other accused; with his integrity intact, Proctor goes willingly to the gallows in the light of the morning sun.

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