The Crucible

Written by Arthur Miller

18 & 19 May 2001

Arthur Miller’s powerful, fact based story of greed, revenge, hatred, injustice and superstition has long been regarded as one of the landmark plays of the twentieth century. Mirroring events happening in American society when it was written during the McCarthy era, it is a damning indictment of society’s obsession with demonising any members of the community perceived to be “different”. That message is as valid today as it was 50 and 300 years ago.

Cast pass Crucible test

Cumbernauld News Wednesday May 23 2001

Cumbernauld theatre’s resident amateur drama group, No Mean Company, showed real nerve when they chose to tackle Arthur Miller’s The Crucible recently performed by them at the Theatre.

Although a humble production – some of the male roles were played by women and an absence of money meant that the cast wore their own clothes and had but a few pieces of furniture for a set – they nonetheless succeeded in capturing the essence of this classic play.

Paul Aitken as John Proctor and Rachel MacDonald as Abigail Williams deserve praise for turning in believable performances which kept the audience riveted despite the occasional fluffed line, and Geri Campbell was also excellent as Elizabeth Proctor, showing just the right combination of tenderness and strength.

Charlie Friell as Giles Corrie showed natural ability as a comic actor, but also gave a good account of himself in his more dramatic scenes.

The casting problems did grate a little, although to be fair to Angela Milton and Anne McEwan, they soldiered on bravely and made the most of it, giving good performances even if the characters of Danforth and Hale seemed wrong for them.

Kyle Haddow also deserves a special mention as the Scream Queen of Cumbernauld – the audience certainly knew when she was on stage!

No Mean Company as a whole deserve acclaim for this production, especially in managing to infuse the ending with real dramatic power – it was moving and it was fascinating to watch those tragic events in Salem unfold.

Their success with the Crucible, despite such difficulties, makes one to look forward to their next production with anticipation.

No Mean Company are obviously up for anything, no matter how ambitious.