Senior Congreve 2019 Review - The Crucible

17 December 2019

Themes of religious identity, fundamentalism v liberalism, show trials, accusations without tangible proof, mass hysteria and mob rule, self-interest, fake news, reason and the truth easily lost in flawed investigations, failure of legal process, male v. female, the individual v. the state, rule by demagogues, abuse, integrity v. convenience/self-interest, the promotion of fear for personal or institutional gains underpin this great play of the mid-Twentieth Century. Set not just in the world of witch trials in Salem, New England in the 1690s, but also written as an allegory for the McCarthyite era of anti-communist hysteria in 1950s USA - these themes still sadly resonate in our own world now. Arthur Miller’s play challenges every contemporary audience to look at its own social, religious and political worlds and reflect. The play, therefore, is a palimpsest for the audience to reflect on these issues and this year’s Congreve has achieved it magnificently. Contemporary dress and limited sets and props emphasised the ‘relevance’ and allowed the characters to speak without distraction.

The lead roles of Camille Gibson (Lower Sixth, Lyttelton) as Abigail Williams and Dom Selvey (Upper Sixth, Chandos) as John Proctor stood out for their fine performances. Clever lighting highlighted the figures at key moments and the use of the ensemble to emphasise the mass elements of seeming satanic possession and spectral ‘evidence’ was bewitching to watch as the massed girls writhed, tossed their hair and screamed with fear at their sightings of satanic forms. The supporting cast also spoke and engaged strongly with both the text and their audience. Almost equal in female and male parts, amongst the girls, the goodness and forgiveness of Eleanor Butler (Lower Sixth, Lyttelton) as Rebecca Nurse and Emilia Havard (Lower Sixth, Stanhope) as Elizabeth Proctor shone like a beacon in the darkness of fear, spite, difference and cruelty. Paris O’Broughton (Fifth Form, Queen’s) was a splendid and utterly convincing Tituba whose difference in status, colour and religion saw her own madness-inducing downfall and the easily persuadable turncoat Mary Warren of Lula Goldsmith (Upper Sixth, Stanhope) allied herself to where the wind was blowing. The supporting male roles of the wily, entrapping and unyielding Danforth magnificently played by Barnaby Peppiatt (Lower Sixth, Chatham), the flawed minister Parris in Matthew Ackroyd (Fifth Form, Bruce); the accented Giles Cory in Joseph Pullin (Fifth Form, Walpole) saw calculating indifference, changes in understanding, even downright cruelty or what we would call abuse, as their personal moralities were challenged and laid bare before their eyes. How quickly the numbers of those accused and imprisoned grew. Today, issues of religion, economics, climate change and politics may have replaced witchcraft in the western world, but personal responsibility in the search for truth and doing what is right will never go away. This year’s Congreve was superbly directed by Rebecca Clark and the Technical Director, Rob Parker, and his team, helped by the splendid Creative Team.

Crispin Robinson, Senior Deputy Head

You can view more photos from Senior Congreve here

Watch our short film about the production here