Harwood High School’s “The Crucible”: Whither Witch Way?
Performances are Thursday, November 19 – Saturday, November 21, 2009; 7:30 p.m.
Harwood Union High School
$7 for adults / $5 for students
Playwright Arthur Miller’s “The Crucible” is one of thespian America’s most famous dramatic stories. Ostensibly about the 1692 Salem Witch trials, Miller’s story was authored during the 1950s, against a repressive national political backdrop of anti-Communist “witch hunts” led by the infamous Cold Warrior, Wisconsin Republican Senator Joseph “Tail Gunner” McCarthy.
Miller’s story has long been admired for its spare and unflinching look at a horrific moment in early U.S. history, when a variety of economic, social, religious, and political forces coalesced in an explosion of violence in the troubled Puritan Massachusetts Bay colony, resulting in the arrest of dozens of young women, and the hanging of more than 1 dozen souls and (oddly) a dog.
Even in today’s new millennium, “The Crucible” is often referred to as being the best single theatrical allegory in our canon for exploring the dangers of cultural conformity and political oppression, and the film version of “The Crucible,” starring Daniel Day-Lewis and Winona Ryder, remains one of the best Hollywood-style recreations of colonial New England on the silver screen.
I was fortunate enough to catch a dress rehearsal of HUHS’s “The Crucible” on Tuesday night. It is to director Ruth Ann Pattee’s credit, as well as the courage of the Harwood Union High School cast, that they’ve chosen to wade into one of the most difficult plays to recreate on the high school stage. “We’ve really stretched ourselves,” explained Pattee during a quick break between acts. “I am really proud of the students and their hard work.”
Consider the challenges: the mature dramatic subject matter (from the trade-offs of life in a religious theocracy to the difficulties of marital infidelity), the stilted nature of colonial vernacular to our 21st century ear (”Dude, like, beware the witches!”), and the lack of any sort of dramatic distraction beyond the crackle of the colonial dialogue (not a single joke or song-and-dance number to be found in this production.)
No easy task, then, “The Crucible.” Despite the myriad challenges, though, the HUHS dramatic team has assembled a powerful and provocative collective performance. The costumes reflect the time, and the stage set is simple and unadorned, the hard lines of the few pieces of wooden furniture casting shadows across the stage. The acting, moreover, is sound – our young actors more than hold their own in delivering their three-century-old lines with intensity and passion. John and Elizabeth Proctor’s troubled marriage, in particular, forms the fulcrum around which revolves much of the play’s dramatic action – and Joe Mead and Tracy Guione admirably hold the ear and eye of the audience. The “poppet” moment remains one of the most intense scenes in the performance, testament to our young thespians’ hard work in preparing their roles.
My advice? Go see “The Crucible,” reconnect with one of the most interesting and most compelling of our historical/theatrical texts, and celebrate our young Valley thespians’ willingness to challenge themselves by tackling Miller’s greatest play. You’ll leave enriched – just in time for Thanksgiving week.
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