An inspired version of The Crucible as a warning from history and a modern day parable – Caoilfhionn Dunne is outstanding as John Proctor.
‘See this magnificently disturbing play come to life’: THE CRUCIBLE – Yard Theatre
The Yard Theatre presents a modern production of Arthur Miller’s The Crucible. Directed by Jay Miller, this new interpretation of The Crucible begins as a storytelling.
‘As a whole the show is utterly bewitching’: THE CRUCIBLE – Yard Theatre
Despite a three-hour running time, this production of The Crucible is pacy and tense enough to be completely enthralling. Thanks to the power of the play itself, some interesting creative decisions and brilliant performances, as a whole the show is utterly bewitching.
What’s Debbie looking forward to in December 2018?
Opening in London this month is the transfer of the NT’s Nine Night (now at Trafalgar Studios), Jailbirds at the Etcetera Theatre, Pinocchio at The Albany, One For The Road at the Rosemary Branch, Orpheus at Battersea Arts Centre and Pinter 5 & 6 will arrive at the Harold Pinter Theatre.
2017 Regional theatre recap
Much of my ‘touring’ has been concentrated in Bristol and Chichester; there are a few other UK venues to add to the list, as well as some from my week in New York, of course.
INTERVIEW: Spotlight On… The Crucible actor Victoria Yeates
Victoria Yeates is best known for her role in Call The Midwife, she is usually found beneath a wimple as Sister Winifred – however she is currently appearing Elizabeth Proctor in The Crucible by Arthur Miller. Here’s what Victoria had to say about the production…
THE CRUCIBLE – Edinburgh
Exceptional clarity characterises the Lyceum’s production of The Crucible, whose focus on small details reaps rewards but does so at the expense of dramatic impact.
JANE WENHAM, THE WITCH OF WALKERN – Arcola Theatre
The best theatre is controversial theatre, but some controversies just make you want to weep. Out of Joint theatre company has been touring Rebecca Lenkiewicz’s Jane Wenham: The Witch of Walkern (co-produced with Watford Palace Theatre and Arcola Theatre) since September last year. All was going well until the 13 October performance at Ipswich High School for Girls was cancelled by the venue “citing concerns over the play’s language”. Max Stafford-Clark, Out of Joint’s artistic director, said: “It is deeply troubling that a play which so eloquently examines witch persecutions from a feminist perspective, and looks at the way society treated and continues to treat women, is considered inappropriate for an audience of young women. The school has also said that the inclusion of swearing is inappropriate, a policy which presumably rules out much contemporary drama or fiction for study.” Indeed. But enough about the follies of our educators, what about the play?
THE CRUCIBLE – Edinburgh
“Intimate”: The passion and brutality at the heart of Arthur Miller’s The Crucible are brought out in an intense production which strives just a bit too hard for authenticity.
THE CRUCIBLE – Royal Exchange, Manchester
Inspired by the Salem witch hunts of the seventeenth century, Arthur Miller’s The Crucible offered a commentary on McCarthyism and the House Un-American Activities Committee when it first premiered in 1953 on Broadway. Now, playing at Manchester’s Royal Exchange it is remarkable how much these themes still resonate loudly within our society today. Aside from modern-day witch hunts on social media for the latest shamed celebrity or the fear of terrorism and National Security, The Crucible also raises ideas surrounding the cuts to Legal Aid and those perceived as vulnerable, having to represent themselves in court.
2015 #Oliviers nominations: What’s in, what’s out? Full lists here
The biggest surprise for me at today’s Olivier nominations event at the ritzy Rosewood London hotel was just how much this event has grown in a few short years. Celebrating nominees: you’re all beautiful I remember so well when I held the first WhatsOnStage Awards Launch Party back in 2002. I believed then, as I […]
More Top 10 #theatre2014 lists: Mine and yours
Rounding up the best of the best of theatre 2014 highlights got me reflecting on my own year in theatre. Having unexpectedly left WhatsOnStage just before Christmas 2013, the shape and pace of my 2014 theatregoing was going to be inevitably different from the previous 16 years. For a time, I wasn’t even sure that […]
The best of the best of #theatre2014 round-ups
Can you keep up with all the 2014 theatrical year round-ups? I’ve rounded up the round-ups to give you a quick overview. The Guardian went ALL out looking back with a profusion of top 10 lists from its various critics, including eminence grise Michael Billington, fringe and festival queen Lyn Gardner, columnist Mark Lawson and […]
My theatre diary: From tears to laughter with The Crucible, The Events, Invincible and Shakespeare in Love
I’m really doing well for play choices in July. Don’t let the warm weather put you off catching these compelling productions, which scale great heights and depths of emotion. (Apart from the entertainment, most of these theatres were lovely and cool on the hot summer evenings I attended. So you’ll get a respite from the […]