NT’s revival of Arthur Miller’s The Crucible is a gripping, haunting tale – review
Arthur Miller’s The Crucible is one of those classic plays that many will have studied at school, but for those unfamiliar, it presents a partially-fictionalised account of the Salem witch trials of the late 17th century.
Miller wrote the play in 1953 as an allegory for McCarthyism, where the US government would persecute those accused of being communists; the show takes on a new resonance now, though, in a Trump-era, post-truth political world.
We’ve heard the term ‘witch hunt’ bandied around in politics increasingly frequently over the past few years – this new production of The Crucible is a timely reminder of what one of those actually looks like.
It makes for gripping, and sometimes rather haunting, viewing. Erin Doherty (The Crown) plays the role of Abigail Williams, the ringleader of the girls.
