Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
Cast: Marni Stanley, Anthony Devine, Abby Bush, Amy Dalton, Samantha Westwell, Sara Chadwick, Rebecca Barrett, Olivia Grace, Nadine Cullen, Harvey Fitzpatrick, Georgia Rooney, John O’Grady, Thomas Dalton, Kaylee-Ann Meredith, Peter Shock, Mark Harper, Georgia Wills, Christopher Hird, John Dixon, John McGee, Sophie Powell, Ashley Male, Amy Allen, Liam-Powell-Berry.
The power of a play rests in the hands of those who contribute to it long after the author’s death. The command of its direction, the will to continue to shape modern thought offers energy in the very best of productions and arguably continues to place dynamism into the words of plays, including perhaps one of the very finest of the 20th Century, Arthur Miller’s The Crucible.
For a professional troupe or company cast to take on the chilling undertones of Arthur Miller’s subtle but seismic defiance against the railroading by Senator McCarthy and the Senate Committee as the Communist threat took over the thoughts of the American political elite in the 1950s, to take on the play that brought back the images of the insanity that surrounded the Salem Witch Trials in the 17th Century, is to be seen as courageous and actively seeking a truth. In the hands of those just starting out, foraging a new path in the world of dramatic arts, it can install the sense of vibrant perspective, the motivation to never let anyone discourage them from fulfilling their own personal dream.
For the students enjoying their first year at the Liverpool Media Academy, The Crucible, directed by Liverpool’s committed stalwart and one of the best voices that the city has in championing such youthful exuberance and dedication, Mike Neary, is a towering challenge that might put off other young actors from attempting. The weaving of 20th Century anger and dogma driven suspicion into the naivety and chilling ability to drive a section of society against each other is complex and requires great skill to truly pull off, to allow the audience member to feel both the desperation of false allegations for profit and greed and the despair of knowing that good people died for the months of insanity that spread round that area of New England.
As the Epstein Theatre rose to applaud the young actors on stage, it was easy to see just how much effort, sweat and perhaps un-spilled blood, in the form of emotional attachment, they all had placed, as a company, into Miller’s greatest work.
In the parts of John Proctor, Abigail and the spectre of institutional terror Danforth, the young actors Harvey Fitzpatrick, Abby Bush and Mark Harper excelled beyond their youthful exuberance and gave the piece the gravitas it demands.
A play stands and falls by its interpretation across Time, the actions of a single human being, whether in the form of the once fallen John Proctor who becomes a giant for his defiance or in the cunning and spiteful revenge driven heart of his former lover Abigail Williams, also stands up to be counted; for the students of Liverpool Media Academy, The Crucible already stands them against Time’s battering winds and gives them a huge start towards whatever their chosen goals are.
An excellent piece, very well presented and the chills of wrongful accusation still finding its way down the spine, Arthur Miller would no doubt applaud.
Ian D. Hall