Naomi Siegel
North Jersey Herald & News
October 30, 2001

It is sorely tempting, post September 11, to find newly minted resonance in works of art whose enduring power was fueled by prior connections and associations.

Watching Arthur Miller's "The Crucible," currently on stage at the New Jersey Shakespeare Festival, one cannot but shudder at the shockingly contemporary echoes in the rhetoric of Reverend Hale, as he warns the 1692 Salem Witch Trial court, "Cleave to no faith when faith brings blood."

And note the words of Deputy Governor Danforth, the trial's chief judge and prosecutor, whose relentless pursuit of "justice" becomes a vicious platform for lies and deception: "A person is either with this court or be counted against it."

Still, Miller's great reworking of one tragic period in our country's earliest history (factual liberties and inaccuracies not withstanding) remains forever linked with the "witch hunts" of the McCarthy era. "The Crucible" was written the same year that the House Committee on Un-American Activities under Senator Joseph McCarthy was busy slinging reckless accusations of Communist Party membership at innocent American citizens and demanding "naming of names" in an attempt to purify the nation of the "Communist scourge."

Arthur Miller, himself a non-cooperative witness at the 1956 hearings whose conviction of contempt was later appealed and reversed, has cast some doubt over the years on the popular interpretation of his play as an allegorical response to McCarthy and the poisonous atmosphere in which he operated.

No matter. "The Crucible" remains a thought provoking, deeply stirring work of art, and the current NJSF production an example of theater ensemble at its best. The play's chilling account of a community wracked by fundamentalist fanaticism and superstition and charged with a puritanical lust to destroy any who would dare to dissent continues to bear powerful testament. Add Miller's subtle but savvy use of the sizzling "fatal attraction" (not historically factual) held by Abigail Williams for her former employer John Proctor and you have a drama that engages on several levels.

Framed by Mary Kay Samouce's grimly skewed timbered setting, the large, eminently able cast, under Bonnie J. Monte's stellar direction, creates 21 sharply etched, uniquely individual character portrayals. At the center are the Proctors--John and Elizabeth and their nemesis Abigail. Paul Niebanck is outstanding as the stolid farmer Proctor--a man haunted by a single moral lapse but desperate to chase the "winter" from his home, a man of principle and independent thought ready to "give up" his soul in order to save his life but unable to relinquish his "name."

Dana Reeve's Elizabeth, painfully prim and seething with hurt as the "abused" wife, struggles to forgive or forget. "Your justice would freeze beer," John tells her. "She wants me dead*She thinks to take my place," is Elizabeth's response.

Newcomer Erin Lynlee Partin signals unbridled sexuality and an icy resolve to remain steadfastly mischievous in the role of Abigail. Playing Mary Warren, the one young woman ready to resist Abby's manipulation, is Laura Standley, an actress of distinct promise.

Brian Dowd is appropriately self-righteous as Reverend Parris, the local preacher with a passion for gold candlesticks. Greg Jackson's Reverend John Hale manages to touch the heart as his horror grows at the evil he has helped to create. As Judge Danforth, William Metzo calls to mind the great Paul Scofield, whose performance as the Deputy Governor in the 1996 filmed "Crucible" remains a cinema highlight.

According to a NJSF press release, thousands of young people are expected to see this "Crucible" production, with seven special Student Matinees filled to capacity. The message to be taught is invaluable; the messenger in rare form to get the job done brilliantly. Arthur Miller should be pleased.

Performances of "The Crucible" at the New Jersey Shakespeare Festival, Drew University, Madison, conclude November 18.

The New Jersey Shakespeare Festival's staging of the Arthur Miller classic is stunning in its clarity and poignant in its accusations and denials.

Stuart Duncan
Princeton Packet
October 31, 2001

The opening-night performance of Arthur Miller's The Crucible at The New Jersey Shakespeare Festival finished to tremendous applause.

At the curtain call, each of the company - 21 in all - took individual bows, then a final group bow, and slowly left the stage as the lights dimmed.

What happened next was an event so rare, no one could remember anything similar in the 39 years of Festival history. First, opening-night audiences tend to be unusually persnickety. They are the best-dressed, the most polite, probably the most intelligent. At the Festival, it has become the custom for actors from previous shows to attend in support. That is not the same as approval. Opening-night critics tend to be dubious. Persnickety covers it.

But on this particular moment on this particular night, just as the last two actors left the stage, the audience rose, virtually as one, the applause still deafening, to ask, then demand, then beseech an additional bow. It was impossible - the company had made its way down the circular stairway backstage and listened in awe beneath. "No additional curtain call had been staged," one explained later. "And you just don't straggle on stage - not in this theater."

Perhaps just one more might be prepared for the future, for this production of The Crucible is something very special. Miller's harrowing tale of the 1692 Salem, Mass., witchcraft trials and the 19 men and women hanged there on Gallows Hill, condemned of conspiring with the Devil, is as edge-of-the-seat as one could wish. It's as stunning in clarity, as poignant in accusations and denials, as definitive in its outlining of morality and judgment, as any ever staged. Seldom has good and evil had such magnificent spokesmen.

When the play was first staged, it was immediately assumed Miller had written a chilling allegory of the Joe McCarthy witch hunts of 1952. It is obvious now, a half-century later, that the play has transcended specific moments of history and stands as a universal tale of caution and courage.

Director Bonnie Monte has a superb cast, equipped with extraordinary diction and seamless timing. Undoubtedly, you will pick your own favorites, but certainly you will not overlook Paul Niebanck as the simple farmer John Proctor, who dares to defy authority in the name of individual rights. Nor Dana Reeve, as his wife, Elizabeth, ready to stand by her husband in spite of nagging marital doubts.

Nor William Metzo as the cocksure Deputy Governor Danforth, blind to the truth, even while he invokes it. Nor yet of Brian Dowd, Gregory Jackson and Tom Brennan as other clergy and therefore local judges, each with a reputation to uphold or rescue, and prejudiced to differing degrees.

Mary Kay Samouce's set design transforms quickly and apparently with ease from upper bedroom to main sitting room, to Salem Meeting House and town jail. Mathew Adelson's lighting is sure, though not necessarily creative. But Ms. Monte's direction has gone far beyond the bounds of a simple morality play, reaching for our very souls.

The Crucible continues at The New Jersey Shakespeare Festival, F.M. Kirby Shakespeare Theatre, Drew University, 36 Madison Ave., Madison, through Nov. 18. Performances: Tues.-Fri. 8 p.m.; Sat. 2, 8 p.m.; Sun. 2, 7 p.m. Tickets cost $26-$41. Special performance Nov. 11 benefits the Christopher Reeve Paralysis Foundation. Tickets cost $50. For information, call (973) 408-5600.

©Packet Online 2001

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