Spring 2004
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| Arthur
Miller's controversial play The
Crucible is set in Salem, Massachusetts during
the 'witch-hunts' of the 1690's. The village of Salem
has been governed by a theocracy; the Puritans who inhabited
it abided strictly by the laws of the Bible and their
own interpretations of decent and godly behaviour. All
seems peaceful, if somewhat dull, before the play begins
- farmers work hard to till their land, the minister preaches
of hell-fire every Sabbath and children are seen but not
heard. |
[click image for true picture] |
[click image for true picture]
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The discovery that a slave
from Barbados and a group of adolescent girls, with the
niece of the minister as their ring-leader, are practising
a form of witchcraft, and dancing in heathen rituals in
the murky depths of the forest outside Salem provides
a catalyst that will change this God-fearing community
forever. Witchcraft is a hanging offence, and paranoia
is rife. Feuding neighbours and jealous lovers realise
that crying witch on their enemies and rivals is a convenient
way to increase their own status and settle old scores;
no one is safe and old friendships, loyalties and ideals
are severely tested by the need for personal survival. |
| As accusations
fly, everyone must choose between right and wrong; the
trouble is that these formerly firm concepts become more
and more blurred when the danger increases and the middle
ground between them has become a potentially deadly no
man's land. Everyone must battle evil; not necessarily
witchcraft in the supernatural sense, but their own sins
and hopes and demons as the ideals the villagers stand
for are brutally challenged - the regretful adulterous
husband must either confess his sins in public or see
his innocent wife hang; his obsessive former lover will
stop at nothing to revenge herself for his defection. |
[click image for true picture]
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[click image for true picture]
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Friends betray
friends more or less reluctantly, and sometimes by mistake.
Abstract ideas of justice, truth, good and evil acquire
very human faces and are defined by very human minds -
and the results also reveal human nature at its best and
worst; much evil is revealed in many hearts and much grace
in many souls becomes apparent. |
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[click image for true picture]
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Saturday, May 8
at 19.00
Sunday, May 9
at 15.00 and
at 19.00
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Kaapelitehdas, Pannuhalli
Tallberginkatu 1 C 15, Helsinki
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