- Author: Arthur Miller
- Year: 1953
- Famous for: Midnight dancing in a Puritan forest, hysteria, super-twisted religion.
- Main character: Abigail Williams, a teenager who knows how to get what she wants, and John Proctor, a man whose one mistake may ruin an entire town.
The Crucible is two things. On the surface, it’s a play about the Salem witch trials—an exploration of the who and the what and the why of one of American history’s darkest hours. Underneath, The Crucible is a crash course in the way hysteria can completely displace rational thinking and pit neighbors against neighbors.
Actually, The Crucible is three things. It’s also a terrific play that takes you right to the core of the emotions that motivated Salem’s accusers and its accused. And why not? Its playwright, Arthur Miller, had his own run-in with a modern-day version of the witch trials—an “episode” with the American government that left him feeling a lot like his protagonist, John Proctor. Say what? Dive into the album to find out more.
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