The flames of this Crucible get dowsed

Published Apr 21, 2015

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The Crucible

DIRECTOR: Alby Michaels

MUSIC COMPOSED BY: Dawid Boverhoff

SET DESIGNER: Wilhelm Disbergen

LIGHTING DESIGNER: Oliver Hauser

COSTUME AND PROPS: Jo Glanville

CAST (PROFESSIONALS): Neels Clasen, Cindy Swanepoel, Jacques Bessenger, Chan Marti, Lebohang Motaung and student ensemble

VENUE: UJ Arts Centre Theatre

UNTIL: Friday (and again from May 26 to June 7, selected evening and matinee performances)

RATING: ***

Head of UJ Arts and Culture, Ashraf Johaardien, describes this cultural season, titled Evolution X, as a celebration of their 10th anniversary, reimagining a journey from then to now – and into the next 10 years.

This is exactly the kind of challenge director Alby Michaels enjoys because he loves working with classics, but pushing the envelope.

It’s also a prescribed work (for schools) which gives him a readymade audience – always a comfortable cushion which allows you to shift those boundaries.

An Arthur Miller quote about the axis of good and evil which turns on the same coin, gave him the basis of how he wanted to play The Crucible.

It’s all about the duality, the good and evil in people, the light and the shadow and how that determines a life, the decisions we make or the way we live.

With a handful of professional actors, Abigail/Elizabeth, Reverend John Hale/Reverend Parris, Mrs Putnam/Rebecca Nurse and Mr Putnam/Giles Corey are played by one actor – almost as if the good and the bad side could come together or mirror one another in these two characters played by one individual.

It works intellectually, actually sounds like a fascinating concept and one Miller would probably have applauded – on paper. But on stage, theatrically, it fails dismally – not only because of the approach of using masks (reminding of commedia dell’arte which doesn’t work here stylistically), but also because some of the characters (especially the two reverends) have a few scenes where they interact with one another which simply don’t work.

It becomes comical to watch (sadly) and the actor doesn’t have a chance to (especially in these particular scenes) develop either of the characters into anything more than a caricature. It also has a disassociating effect on the audience because of the constant jiggling of the characters.

The play should always be the thing and with one as powerful as The Crucible you don’t want to miss a single word.

But with the confusion of characters as well as a creative decision to place the production on a stage of water with strong musical accompaniment in between, it was difficult to follow the narrative as Miller intended.

It also hampered the rhythms of the players and the flow of the narrative so that it felt as if you are watching a collection of loose- standing scenes rather than a single story.

Push the edges, try different things, all of these are a given, especially when presenting to the young with a young cast. But never lose the essence of the play.

Probably because it is a setwork, most of the young audiences will be familiar with the work, but if you aren’t, this will be a very confusing theatre experience.

In between the entire muddle, there are some beautiful moments of quiet and storytelling.

The scene between Proctor (Clasen) and his wife Elizabeth (Swanepoel) as he fights his demons, for example, was chilling, but sudden movement hampered by water time and again disturbs the balance.

Some of the cast coped better than others with the water, but as a whole, it detracted disastrously from the production.

Michaels was determined to play and with a production team including Disbergen who created a magnificent set with exquisite costumes by Glanville, the pictures often evoked paintings from a time long, long ago.

But, sadly, more than anything, one was constantly reminded of everything happening on stage rather than just being immersed in Miller’s extraordinary tale of coercion and corruption.

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