The Crucible

Last night I attended The Crucible with a large group of friends. Karl, my roommate played the role of Proctor in the play and I must say that he did a wonderful job. I thoroughly enjoyed the play, even though it was a little bit different from the way the play is traditionally presented. The director added a few dance numbers and updated the look to a gothic style.

I had read The Crucible before and I fell in love with the story when I did. I had been looking forward to seeing this play ever since I found out that Karl was in it back around Christmas time. Coming into the play, I was wondering how the new look of the play would affect the content of the story. I’m glad that they didn’t change the story at all, but because of this, the gothic costumes and stage didn’t really have any impact upon the performance besides the initial shock value. It was interesting to see the play performed with the costumes they had, but I think the play would have had the same effect with traditional costumes. However, it was interesting to see everyone dressed in ripped leather, chains, and gothic attire. Not only was the dress gothic, but many of the characters were half naked and covered with tattoos. They also all had unique haircuts, most consisting of shaving part of their head, dying what was left, and putting it into either a Mohawk, spikes, or dreads.

The stage was also in a metal/gothic style. The background was sheet metal and most of the stage was made up of iron fencing, barrels, and pillars. It worked very well for the story and fit with the overall tone that was set by the costumes. The only other difference from the original story is the dance numbers that were added to the beginning of the play and right after intermission. The opening number was very well done and I thought it was an interesting interpretive dance—it was, I think, the dancing that the witches were doing in the woods when Parris found them. The “demons” of the dance reminded me a lot of the borg from Star Trek. They had lights attached to metallic, wired sections of costume that gave them a very eerie look.

All of this led to an interesting rendition of the play that was pretty much weird just for the sake of being weird. I enjoyed the story, just as I always have, and I thought the dance numbers were worthy additions to the play, but the costuming and staging didn’t really do anything unique. Still, I would recommend everyone to go see this play while it is still open, even if only to see my roommate in action. He does a spectacular job of playing his role.