Cruciating Crucible

26th July 2007
6 NUSsers caught the sold-out play, The Crucible staged at The Maidment Theatre in the heart of University of Auckland.

Without a doubt one of the greatest plays of the twentieth century, The Crucible, takes on an unnerving air of topicality in our terrorist age.

When the young girls of a closed religious sect are discovered experimenting with devil-worship in the woods they try to save themselves by denouncing neighbours as witches and Satanists. A chain of events is set in place in which the innocent are implicated by the hysteria and fear that permeate their whole community.

Originally conceived as a response to the McCarthy anti-communist trials of the 1950’s, the play now reads as a stark warning about the dangers of irrational belief.

A rare opportunity to see an ensemble of twenty superb actors bring to life this feverishly exciting moral thriller that pits personal responsibility against public good.

With such compelling description and a rather long history stretching back to 1952, it certainly has big shoes to fill.

My solitary photo as evidence I watched the play. Heh.

Running for well over 2 hours, the Crucible was exceedingly grim, accompanied by ghastly lighting and starkly eerie songs. However, I thought the play was almost tedious at some parts but the outstanding cast more than make up it.

Unexpectedly, the most disturbing part of the Crucible was that the $10.00 booklet on the play was SOLD OUT!
Sianzzzzz...