The Crucible - Play Guide

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The Play Guide for The Crucible was created by:
Shari Wattling
Artistic Associate – New Play Development
Zachary Moull
Assistant Dramaturg
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The Crucible runs from October 13 to November 8, 2015
For tickets, visit theatrecalgary.com or call (403) 294-7447
Front cover image by David Cooper
Table of Contents
THE BASICS
The Company ....................................................................01
Who’s Who? ...................................................................... 02
Time and Place ................................................................. 02
The Story .......................................................................... 03
EXPLORATIONS
Wolves: A Note from Director R.H. Thomson ....................... 04
Puritanism ........................................................................ 05
Life in Colonial Salem .........................................................06
Carved out of the Wilderness
An Interview with Set Designer Cameron Porteous .....09
The Devil’s Malice
Witchcraft Accusations in New England and Beyond ... 12
The Salem Witch Trials ...................................................... 15
Naming Names
Arthur Miller and the Red Scare ................................ 19
About the Playwright ......................................................... 22
Glossary ........................................................................... 23
CONVERSATIONS
Conversation Starters ........................................................ 25
Mass Hysteria ....................................................................26
Big Reads from Calgary Public Library ................................. 28
Local Stories: Reading The Crucible in Tripoli ...................... 30
Spotlight Saturday ............................................................. 31
Sources ............................................................................ 32
THE BASICS
-1-
The Company
THE CRUCIBLE
By Arthur Miller
THE CAST
Jesse Lynn Anderson
Claire Armstrong
Kevin Corey
Chris Enright
Stephen Hair
Brian Jensen
Karen Johnson-Diamond
Brianna Johnston
Haysam Kadri
Terence Kelly
Duval Lang
Kelly Malcolm
Caitlynne Medrek
Graham Mothersill
Graham Percy
Valerie Planche
Lennette Randall
Vanessa Sabourin
Karl H. Sine
Mercy Lewis
Abigail Williams
Reverend Samuel Parris
Ezekiel Cheever
Deputy-Governor Danforth
Judge Hathorne
Ann Putnam
Susanna Wallcott
Marshal Willard
Giles Corey
Francis Nurse
Mary Warren
Betty Parris
Reverend John Hale
Thomas Putnam
Rebecca Nurse
Tituba
Elizabeth Proctor
John Proctor
THE CREATIVE TEAM
R.H. Thomson
Cameron Porteous
Deitra Kalyn
Kevin Lamotte
Joe Slabe
Haysam Kadri
Jane MacFarlane
Shari Wattling
BEHIND THE SCENES
Michael Howard
Justin Born, Sara Turner
Catharine Crumb
Chris Jacko
Scott Morris
Ron Siegmund
Andrew Kerr
Rachel Michelle Sheridan
Director
Set Design
Costume Design
Lighting Design
Musical Director
Fight Director
Voice Coach
Production Dramaturg
Stage Manager
Assistant Stage Managers
Head of Lighting
Head of Sound
Interim Head Stage Carpenter
Wig & Hairstylist, Wardrobe Master
Stage Hand
Dresser
THE BASICS
-2-
Who’s Who?
John Proctor: A farmer who lives on the outskirts of Salem
Elizabeth Proctor: His wife
Abigail Williams: A teenage girl, formerly the Proctors’ servant
Reverend Samuel Parris: Salem’s Puritan minister, Abigail’s uncle
Betty Parris: His young daughter
Tituba: His slave from Barbados
Mary Warren: A teenage girl who works as the Proctors’ servant
Susanna Wallcott and Mercy Lewis: Other teenage girls of the village
Reverend John Hale: An expert in witchcraft from the village of Beverly
Thomas Putnam and Ann Putnam: Wealthy local landowners
Rebecca Nurse and Francis Nurse: A respected elderly couple
Giles Corey: An elderly farmer
Sarah Good: A poor woman
Ezekiel Cheever : A local tailor appointed as clerk of the court
Marshal Willard: A local law enforcement officer
Judge Hathorne: The local magistrate
Deputy-Governor Danforth: The Deputy-Governor of Massachusetts,
brought in from Boston to preside over the Salem trials
Time and Place
The Crucible takes place in the Puritan settlement of Salem, Massachusetts,
in 1692. The village is located about 15 miles north of Boston.
THE BASICS
-3-
The Story
Act I, Scene i: Reverend Samuel Parris's young daughter Betty has taken
ill after Parris caught her, his niece Abigail, other older girls dancing in the
woods with Tituba, his slave from Barbados. He suspects that the Devil
may be involved and has summoned Reverend John Hale, an expert from
a nearby town. Hale urges caution at first, but as villagers gather and
questions mount, the girls begin to cast accusations of witchcraft.
Act I, Scene ii: At home eight days later, John and Elizabeth Proctor
discuss the court proceedings that are now underway in Salem. Their
current servant Mary Warren is taking part, and their previous servant
Abigail is the leader of the group of girls who provide evidence of
witchcraft to the court. Elizabeth is uneasy, since she dismissed Abigail
after catching her and John having a romantic tryst. Mary returns with a
gift for Elizabeth, a poppet that she made to pass the time in court. Hale
arrives and asks the couple about the depth of their faith. Soon after,
officials of the court take Elizabeth away. She has been accused of
witchcraft by Abigail, and the poppet will be strong evidence against her.
Act II, Scene i: Five weeks later, Proctor meets Abigail in the woods on
the night before his wife goes to trial. He threatens to reveal her as a fraud
if she doesn't recant her accusations. She refuses, calling him a hypocrite.
Act II, Scene ii: Two weeks later, after Elizabeth has been convicted of
witchcraft, Proctor brings Mary to the court with a deposition claiming
that the girls are only pretending to be afflicted by witchcraft. DeputyGovernor Danforth, the presiding judge, reluctantly agrees to hear her
testimony. But when the other girls turn their attacks on Mary, she rejoins
them to save herself and accuses Proctor. While Hale loudly denounces
the proceedings, Danforth sends Proctor to jail.
Act II, Scene iii: Three months later, Hale comes to the jail to plead with
the men and women who will be hanged the next morning. He wants
them to confess to save their lives, even if they have done nothing wrong.
Proctor dictates a confession, but he cannot bear to sign his name to it.
EXPLORATIONS
-4-
Wolves
A Note from Director R.H. Thomson
The Crucible is a story about a
community whose fear makes it
self-destruct. In the community’s
rush to judgment, innocents are
trampled.
When I was five, my brother
told me there were wolves in
our basement and I believed
him. Our bedroom was at the
top of the basement stairs and at
night I lay awake in fear.
R.H. Thomson
Of all the emotions, fear is the
loudest and the most destructive. Fear’s crying can deafen reason and
render unquestionable evidence irrelevant. Making sure that every
basement light was on, I looked in every corner but found no evidence of
wolves. Still, I believed.
After decades of declining crime rates in Canada, including rates of
violent crime, why are we now more afraid of crime? Perhaps our fear
reflex dominates our more reasonable instincts since it comes from our
primal roots. Perhaps caution, prudence, and foresight are evolved
reflexes.
I have a particular disrespect for those who traffic in fear, either on the
local level by inflating crime stories on news programmes to help the
bottom line or on the national level by fearmongering to leverage power.
Some prudent voices have been heard in desperate situations. When
referring to Germany’s recent decision to accept 800,000 refugees from the
EXPLORATIONS
-5-
millions of Syrians escaping the destruction in their homeland, Chancellor
Angela Merkel said, “Fear has never been a good advisor, neither in our
personal lives nor in our society.”
There were no wolves in our basement. My brother had planted the
thought in my head, but it was my fear that had trapped it there.
The Crucible’s tale is particularly timely.
Puritanism
Puritanism is a form of Christianity that originated in England in the early
16th century. Members were Calvinists who felt that the Protestant
Reformation had not gone far enough to “purify” the Church of England.
They sought to cleanse the church of what they saw as the corruption and
excesses of Catholic rituals and idolatry, placing an emphasis instead on
the Bible, individual conscience, and living a Godly life.
After years of persecution and intolerance in England, Puritans began to
set sail for the new colonies of America in order to set up their own model
society based entirely on the
ideals of the reformed church.
They arrived at Plymouth on
the Mayflower in 1620 and at
Massachusetts Bay near Salem
ten years later. Between 1620
and 1640, approximately 20,000
Puritans settled in the New
England colonies.
"Mayflower in Plymouth Harbor" by
William Halsall
The Puritan religion is based on a set of five essential beliefs that are
derived from Calvinist theology. These five points are often referred to by
the acronym TULIP:
EXPLORATIONS
-6-
Total Depravity: The belief that all men are born enslaved to sin as
a result of Adam’s Original Sin against God.
Unconditional Election: The belief that God has already
predetermined, through his mercy, those who will receive eternal
salvation. There is nothing one can do to earn one’s way into His
Grace through virtue, merit, or faith.
Limited Atonement: The belief that the death of Jesus Christ atones
only for the sins of those previously elected by God for salvation,
and not for those of all mankind.
Irresistible Grace: The belief that one cannot resist the grace of
God. The willingness and ability to obey His will, abide by faith,
and feel His presence are signs of being within his grace.
Perseverance of the Saints: The belief that once someone has been
saved by God, this cannot be reversed.
Life in Colonial Salem
In the 17th century, most colonial New England towns were formed
around the Puritan church, and therefore there was little separation of
church and state. The meeting hall acted as both the town council
chambers and the church. All voting members of the community had to
make a public statement of their faith. Civic officials, magistrates, and
other local government representatives were all appointed by members of
the church. Local ministers held great political powers.
Within the Puritan community, God and worship were central to daily
life, and religion was at the centre of political and social order. Puritans
followed a routine of daily prayer, with church services several times a
EXPLORATIONS
-7-
week. Self-control and hard
work were seen as signs of
faithfulness
and
selection
among God’s elect; whereas
indulgences such as laughing,
dancing,
chance,
joking,
and
games
theatre
of
were
forbidden as sinful. Drinking
alcohol
was
permitted
moderation,
but
moderation
were
order
seen
in
and
as
methods of keeping demons
and the Devil at bay.
Children were expected to obey
The central aisle and pulpit of the Old Ship
Church in Hingham, MA, a Puritan church
built in 1681 (Library of Congress)
the strict authority of their parents and to follow their example of hard
work, discipline, and conformity. Toys and games were extremely limited
as these were seen as sinful. Education was important for both boys and
girls so that they could read, write, and interpret the Bible. It was not
uncommon for children to be sent to stay with other families as
apprentices or to learn a trade. The average age of marriage was higher in
Puritan communities than inother immigrant colonies – 26 for men and 22
for women.
Salem is located on the northern shore of Massachusetts Bay, at the mouth
of the Naumkeag River, about 15 miles north of Boston. The early Puritan
colonists of the area maintained relatively peaceful relationships with the
original Native American owners of the land, but these soured as more
Puritans arrived and their settlements expanded. By the late 17th century,
violent conflicts were not uncommon in parts on New England, and a
series of wars between the English and the French and their Native
American allies sent an influx of refugees from Maine and upstate New
York into Massachussetts, creating an atmosphere of tension and fear.
EXPLORATIONS
-8-
By 1692, when the events of The Crucible take place, the area had become
developed into two distinct districts: Salem Village and Salem Town.
Salem Village was a fast-growing farming area, while Salem Town, to the
south, was a port of wealthier merchants engaged in international trade,
fishing, and shipbuilding. It is estimated that the population of the
combined area was about 2,000 residents.
There was considerable division between Salem Village and Salem Town
on economic and religious issues. Many of the farmers of Salem Village
believed the worldliness and affluence of Salem Town’s merchant class
threatened their Puritan values. Meanwhile, merchants in Salem Town
grew resentful of the fact that the majority of the available land was
owned by Salem Village farmers, leaving the town dependent on the
agricultural community for food.
In 1672, members of Salem Village elected to establish their own church
hall and elect their own local minister, despite objections from Salem
Town. In 1689, after a number of failed attempts to retain a permanent
minister, they elected Reverend Samuel Parris as the minister of Salem
Village. Parris was an orthodox Puritan who denounced the worldly ways
of Salem Town. His impassioned sermons contributed to the atmosphere
of tension that preceded the witch trials of 1692.
Map indicating areas of European settlement in North America, 1702
(Wikimedia Commons user Magicpiano)
EXPLORATIONS
-9-
Carved out of the Wilderness
An Interview with Set Designer Cameron Porteous
Cameron Porteous is one of Canada’s most distinguished scenic designers.
He has designed at nearly every major theatre across the country, and
served as head of design at Vancouver Playhouse for a decade and the
Shaw Festival for nearly two.
He has also worked extensively
in film and television, including
his
Emmy
design
for
Award-winning
Beethoven
Lives
Upstairs. In 2001, he was art
director for the miniseries Salem
Witch Trials.
Porteous’s set design for The
Crucible doesn’t only look like a
structure from the colonial era;
it’s also built a bit like one. His
Cameron Porteous
concept comes from historical
barn-raising practices, in which an entire community gathered to build
something that no single family could manage on their own. The set, a
two-storey design made from rough-cut cedar, will be constructed live by
the show’s cast during each performance.
What was behind the idea to have the actors build the set onstage?
Well firstly, that was an accident in a way. It had to do with [director]
R.H. [Thomson]’s vision for the show. Arthur Miller saw the play taking
place in a black space, but R.H. sees it as a space in the forest. The forest is
very important to him. At the beginning of the show, he’s created what
we’re calling a prologue, where we actually see some of the dancing in the
forest that they talk about later on. R.H. wants to see that to set it all up, so
he needs to be able to start outside in the forest. That dancing can’t
happen inside a house.
EXPLORATIONS
- 10 -
Secondly, I showed R.H. some pictures of barn-building through the
centuries, of big beams being lifted up by people with ropes and ladders,
and he was fascinated by that. He took the idea and developed it into the
concept we have now, which I’m very thrilled with. The actors construct
the set between the scenes and they all seem to be having fun with it. One
of the things R.H. has done, and this is the actor in him, is that he’s
actually made it not just about building a set. He’s made it about the
actors themselves. He’s commissioned all this music, some settings of
hymns, so that the actors are singing while they’re building this barn. It
becomes a very communal exercise for them based on a religious
philosophy. They took to it like ducks to water.
So that’s how it got started. As well, if you look at the history, this play
takes place only around 70 years after the landing of the Mayflower. So
we’re not talking about 300-year-old stuff from an antique store here. It’s
all brand new. John Proctor says “come and help me drag my timber.”
He’s still building! So I wanted everything to look hand-built and new, as
if it had been freshly carved out of the wilderness.
Preliminary set design model by Cameron Porteous for The Crucible
EXPLORATIONS
- 11 -
The image of a barn-raising is central to this production. Where did that
Puritan belief in working together come from?
You have to realize that out of the hundred-and-some people who came
across on the Mayflower, only 33 survived. Some died at sea, but most died
after they landed, many in the first winter. The community spirit came
from the fact that, if they were going to survive, they needed to pull
together. It was very simple for them, and it helped that their religious
beliefs were communal as well. “If we all get together and pray and help
each other, we can survive.”
What strategies do you use in the design so that the actors can assemble
it on stage?
I have to take my hat off to a young technical director I worked with years
ago in Vancouver who put a set together using a system of pegs, dowels,
and mortise-and-tenon joints. For that play, we needed to have something
constructed fast and we couldn’t come out with power tools in the middle
of the show. He was British, and he had grown up with certain types of
old-fashioned carpentry that they still used there in the theatre. So I’ve
refined some of that concept for this show. We’re using some very old
construction techniques.
When I worked on the series Salem Witch Trials, I got to study some barns
in Upper Canada Village that were 200 years old and still standing. They
had beams fourteen inches square, huge mortise joints, held together with
dowels of oak and maple. No nails or screws anywhere. In a windstorm,
these barns would creak and crack. But for 200 years, they haven’t blown
down. It really works. This set is as strong as an elephant.
"We left his house to walk in the woods under dripping
branches, amid the odor of decay and regeneration that a long
rain drives up from the earth in a cold country forest."
–Arthur Miller on his walk with Elia Kazan (see pg. 20)
EXPLORATIONS
- 12 -
The Devil’s Malice
Witchcraft Accusations in New England and Beyond
Arthur Miller’s The Crucible is based on the witch trials that took place in
Salem, Massachusetts. Hysteria over witchcraft swept through the town
starting in February 1692. By the end of summer, around one-tenth of the
community’s 2,000 people had been accused of witchcraft, and a special
tribunal had executed 20 people.
In the 17th century, when the Puritans fled religious persecution in
England and colonized Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay, they brought
along their early modern European superstitions about witchcraft. Settled
precariously on the edge of what they perceived as a vast and threatening
wilderness, the Puritans believed that dark forces lurked close at hand to
test their pious community.
Massachusetts was particularly troubled by witches, the sworn agents of
the Devil who delighted in
tormenting the faithful. The
pervasiveness of witchcraft was
taken as a clear sign of the
righteousness of the colony.
“Where will the Devil show the
most malice,” wrote Puritan
minister Cotton Mather, “but
where he is hated, and hateth
most?”
In Puritan New England, any
type of misfortune might be
blamed on witchcraft: a poor
harvest, a runaway cow, a
mischievous child who laughs
A woodcut depicting witches dancing
around a central figure, c. 1700
EXPLORATIONS
- 13 -
in church. The Devil was fond
of sending strange illnesses; the
few doctors available outside of
Boston had limited resources
and
little
training,
so
an
unusual ailment could lead to a
supernatural diagnosis as easily
as a medical one. Books and
pamphlets that were written by
influential clergymen shocked
readers with vivid eyewitness
accounts of witchcraft, before
helpfully cataloguing the signs
and strategies of the Devil’s
agents.
Puritan minister Cotton Mather, a leading
authority on witches, c. 1700
These were some of the signs used to identify a witch:
• The inability to recite the Lord’s Prayer aloud without error
• Special knowledge of herbs, healing remedies, or midwifery
• Unusual freckles, moles, or bruises
• Tics, tremors, seizures, or other movement abnormalities
• Owning dolls or other lifelike figures, which could be used to cast curses
• Speaking to dogs or cats, which could be demons called familiar spirits
Crucially, it was widely believed that witches could torment their victims
in visions and dreams. The admission of so-called “spectral evidence” in
court proceedings was a controversial practice, since these attacks could
not be witnessed by anyone beyond the afflicted.
The penalty for witchcraft was death – “Thou shalt not suffer a witch to
live,” reads Exodus 22:18 in the King James Bible. The typical means of
execution was hanging, but pressing and drowning were also used. Only
a confession, seen as a sign of God’s hand at work, would save the life of a
convicted witch.
EXPLORATIONS
- 14 -
The majority of the accused were women, since Puritan society was
uncomfortable with sexuality on the whole and held deeply engrained
beliefs that women were morally and spiritually weaker than men as a
result of Eve’s temptation of Adam. All those who lived on the margins of
the society were vulnerable to charges of witchcraft: the poor, the elderly,
the mentally ill, and people of non-European backgrounds.
The last recorded North American witch trial took place in 1878; it was a
civil case (coincidentally heard in Salem) in which an early adherent of
Christian Science was accused of malicious mesmerism. But accusations of
witchcraft have not gone away. Although the exact statistics are difficult
to pin down, researchers with United Nations refugee and human rights
agencies estimate that thousands of supposed witches are still targeted
each year in many parts of the world. They face abuse, expulsion from
their communities, and even murder. As in the past, the victims are
disproportionately women.
An image of witches being hanged, c. 1655
EXPLORATIONS
- 15 -
The Salem Witch Trials
The Salem witch trials were one among many instances of witch trials in
the early American colonies,
but the widespread accusations
and large number of executions
made them the most notorious
example.
Arthur Miller’s The Crucible
sticks closely to the historical
record in some respects, but the
playwright
did
take
many
creative liberties. Here’s what
happened, based on transcripts
and historical studies.
In January of 1692, Reverend
Samuel
Parris's
Reverend Samuel Parris
daughter
Elizabeth, age 9, and niece Abigail Williams, age 11, started having "fits”
that involved screaming, contortions, and uttering strange sounds.
Another girl, Ann Putnam, age 11, experienced similar episodes. On
February 29, under pressure from magistrates Jonathan Corwin and John
Hathorne, the girls blamed three women for afflicting them: the Parris’s
slave Tituba, Sarah Osborne, and a homeless beggar named Sarah Good.
After several days of interrogation, Osborne and Good steadfastly
proclaimed their innocence; however, Tituba confessed, saying, "The Devil
came to me and bid me serve him." She admitted that she had signed the
Devil’s book and that she recognized the names of several others in it,
including Sarah Osborne and Sarah Good.
EXPLORATIONS
- 16 -
By March, more women had
been accused including Martha
Corey
and
These
Rebecca
accusations
Nurse.
greatly
concerned the community since
they
were
respected
church.
both
members
If
they
deeply
of
could
the
be
witches, then no one was above
suspicion. Sarah Good's 4-yearold daughter was questioned,
and her timid answers were
construed as a confession that
implicated her mother. In April,
Deputy-Governor Danforth and
his assistants began attending
the hearings. Dozens of people
from Salem and other nearby
villages were brought in for
"Rebecca Nurse in Chains," an 1893
illustration by Freeland A. Carter
questioning, including Elizabeth Proctor. When Elizabeth’s husband John
objected during the proceedings and accused the young girls of deception,
he too was arrested.
On May 27, 1692, Governor William Phips ordered the establishment of a
Special Court of Oyer and Terminer (“to hear and determine”) to
prosecute the cases of those in jail. The first case brought to the special
court was Bridget Bishop, an older woman known for her provocative
behaviour and for having been previously accused and acquitted of
witchcraft. She was found guilty and, on June 10, became the first person
hanged on what was later called Gallows Hill.
Five days later, respected minister Cotton Mather wrote a letter imploring
the court not to allow spectral evidence – testimony that a person’s
spectral shape had appeared to a witness in dreams or visions. His request
EXPLORATIONS
- 17 -
was ignored and five people were sentenced and hanged in July, five
more in August, and eight in September. In August, both Elizabeth and
John Proctor were tried and condemned to death. Elizabeth’s execution
was stayed as she was pregnant at the time, but John Proctor was hanged
on August 19th. On September 19th, 81-year-old Giles Corey was pressed
to death for refusing to confess or enter a plea to charges of witchcraft.
On October 3rd, Increase Mather, Cotton Mather’s father and thenpresident of Harvard University, also denounced the use of spectral
evidence: "It were better that ten suspected witches should escape than
one innocent person be condemned," he proclaimed. Governor Phips, in
response to Mather's plea and (and perhaps to his own wife being
questioned) dissolved the Court of Oyer and Terminer on October 29. He
replaced it with a Superior Court of Judicature, which disallowed spectral
evidence. Only 3 out of 56 defendants were condemned and all those
imprisoned on witchcraft charges were pardoned by May, 1693.
An 1876 engraving depicting the 1692 Salem witch trials by William A. Crafts
EXPLORATIONS
- 18 -
Following the trials and executions, many of the people involved quickly
confessed error and guilt. On January 14, 1697, the General Court ordered
a day of fasting and soul-searching for the tragedy of Salem. In 1702, the
court declared the trials unlawful, and in 1711, the colony passed a bill
restoring the rights and good names of those accused and granting £600
restitution to their heirs. The state of Massachusetts formally apologized
in 1957 for the events of 1692.
In August 1992, to mark the 300th anniversary of the trials, Nobel
Laureate Elie Wiesel dedicated the Witch Trials Memorial in Salem.
There are many different theories about the causes of Salem witch trials.
Here are a few:
Greed: Those convicted of witchcraft forfeited all their property, and
much of the land ended up in the hands of the accusers.
Rivalry: There was a tense rivalry between Salem Village and Salem Town
in advance of the events of 1692. Many of the accusers were allied with the
agricultural and more conservative religious members of Salem Village,
while many of the accused were aligned with the less conservative
merchant-class community of Salem Town.
Fear: Natural fears from living alongside a vast wilderness under threat
from native attack, smallpox outbreaks, and imminent wars with French
settlers created a climate prone to hysteria.
Adolescence: Young girls living under strict moral and social codes
would have been naturally imaginative and seeking an outlet for attention
and a degree of self-determined power.
Poisoning: Some scholars suggest that a damp, warm spring in 1691 may
have contaminated the rye crop with a fungus called ergot, that would
have been baked into breads over the winter. This fungus can cause
stupor, convulsions, twitches, hallucinations, and other physical and
mental symptoms.
EXPLORATIONS
- 19 -
Naming Names
Arthur Miller and the Red Scare
Some 260 years after the trials in Salem, witchcraft was on Arthur Miller’s
mind as he drove north from New York to visit his friend Elia Kazan in
Connecticut. In the early 1950s, fears about the worldwide spread of
communist ideology had reached fever pitch, and on the home front,
high-profile espionage trials of civilians like Julius and Ethel Rosenberg
had triggered a wave of paranoia known as the Red Scare. Soviet spies
could be anywhere, and anyone who expressed left-wing sympathies
might be a danger to America. “What I sought was a metaphor,” Miller
later wrote, “that would penetrate to the centre of this miasma.”
In her recent article in The New Yorker, historian Stacy Schiff describes how
the Salem witch trials fueled themselves by consuming their own
opposition: “It bordered on heresy to question the validity of witchcraft,
the legitimacy of the evidence, or the wisdom of the court. The skeptic was
a marked man.” And when even the most respected members of the
community could face charges, Schiff writes, “it could be wise to name
names before anyone mentioned yours.”
Sen. Joseph McCarthy makes a presentation at a Senate subcommittee
hearing in 1954 (U.S. Senate)
EXPLORATIONS
- 20 -
In Miller’s day, politicians such as Senator Joseph McCarthy had
capitalized on the Cold War’s climate of fear, casting themselves as
crusaders against communism. McCarthy loudly proclaimed that the U.S.
State Department was “infested with communists,” while the House UnAmerican Activities Committee (known as HUAC) conducted a farreaching inquisition into influential Americans with supposed ties to
communism. The evidence supporting these accusations was often vague,
but it was difficult to call the proceedings into question without casting
suspicion on oneself.
Both McCarthy and HUAC used heavy-handed tactics with the witnesses
they subpoenaed into hearings. The dreaded question generally came in
the form of: “Are you now, or have you ever been, a member of the
Communist Party?” Refusing to answer led to contempt charges, while
denial risked accusations of perjury. Most importantly, those who
cooperated with the interrogators were then asked under oath to name the
names of other subversives, who would be subpoenaed in the everwidening investigation. In 1947, HUAC had investigated the Hollywood
film industry in a campaign that led to the blacklisting of more than a
hundred artists who refused to cooperate with the committee. In the early
1950s, HUAC turned some of its attention to the New York theatre
community.
On a walk through the forest surrounding Kazan’s home in April 1952,
Miller’s friend confessed that he had cooperated with HUAC in order to
save his career. Kazan, who had directed the premieres of Miller’s plays
All My Sons and Death of a Salesman, carried a Party card for a few months
in the mid-1930s while working with the Group Theatre and had named
the names of eight artists from that company, including playwright
Clifford Odets. Miller was shaken. “It was a quiet calamity opening before
me in the woods,” he recalled in his autobiography, “because I felt my
sympathy going toward him and at the same time I was afraid of him.
Had I been of his generation, he would have had to sacrifice me as well.”
EXPLORATIONS
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After leaving Kazan, Miller drove straight to Salem to research the play he
would call The Crucible. He spent many days poring over the original
court transcripts of the witch trials, mouthing the words to get a feel for
the dialogue. Miller took some creative liberties, but the characters and
events in The Crucible are based on the historical record.
Given the political dangers of the times, the play received a range of
responses upon its premiere in 1953. Miller wrote that, on opening night,
“people
with
whom
I
had
some
fairly
close
professional
acquaintanceships passed me by as though I were invisible,” wary of
being publically associated with a controversial figure. On another night
later in the run, the play received a particularly charged reaction: “The
audience, upon John Proctor’s execution, stood up and remained silent for
a couple of minutes, with heads bowed. The Rosenbergs were at that
moment being electrocuted in Sing Sing.”
The success of The Crucible
brought Miller himself to the
attention of the authorities. In
late 1953, he was refused a
passport to attend the play’s
European premiere in Brussels,
with the U.S. State Department
saying
it
was
against
the
national interest. The New York
Times reported that Miller “said
he could not understand how
his presence in Europe could
have affected the United States,
adding that he hoped his plays
would make more friends for
American culture than the State
Department.”
Arthur Miller and Marilyn Monroe in 1957
(Kingsport Times-News)
EXPLORATIONS
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In 1956, Miller was finally subpoenaed by HUAC. Although he had never
been a member, Miller had given a speech at a Communist Party writers’
meeting in the 1930s. His lawyers suggested that the hearing was timed to
coincide with his high-profile marriage to Marilyn Monroe. When asked
under oath, Miller refused to name any names and was found guilty of
contempt. The conviction was eventually overturned on appeal, but Miller
was profoundly affected by the experience. With the hope of making such
ordeals a thing of the past, he became a leader of PEN-International, an
organization that defends freedom of expression and advocates for writers
who are harassed or imprisoned for their beliefs.
About the Playwright
Born in 1915, Arthur Miller was raised in a wealthy New York family that
lost nearly everything in the 1929 stock market crash. He worked various
blue-collar jobs to put himself
through university, where he took
up
playwriting.
His
first
Broadway success was the moral
drama All My Sons in 1947. Death
of a Salesman, his classic critique of
the American Dream, premiered
to great acclaim in 1949, and The
Crucible followed in 1953. His
later plays include A View from the
Bridge, Incident at Vichy, and The
Price.
Whether
writing
family
or
political
Miller
is
celebrated
about
struggles,
for
his
nuanced portrayals of people
wrestling with their moral and
societal responsibilities. He died
in 2005.
Arthur Miller in 1966
(Dutch National Archives)
EXPLORATIONS
- 23 -
Glossary
Barbados
The English colonized the small island of Barbados in the eastern
Caribbean Sea in 1625. Throughout the 17th century, the island’s thriving
sugar cane trade became the focal point for the import of West African
slaves. By century’s end, the import of slaves through the Caribbean
islands had extended into the American colonies.
Covenant
A central element of Puritan theology was the notion of the sacred
covenant, or contract, between God and his chosen people. This covenant
ideology extended between individual and the church, ministers and their
congregations, and families and their communities.
Crucible
A crucible is a small container in which metals are heated intensely until
they melt down; metaphorically, it is any difficult challenge that reveals
someone’s character.
Devil’s book
It was a common folkloric belief that witches entered a pact with the Devil
by signing their names in blood in his book.
Goody
A Puritan form of address for a married woman; a shortened form of
“Goodwife.”
Poppet
A small child, or a doll in the figure of a human. In folk-magic and
witchcraft, a doll could be used to transfer spells onto a specific person.
EXPLORATIONS
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Press
A method of torture or execution in which heavy stones or other objects
are placed on a person. Giles Corey is the only person known to have been
pressed to death in American history.
Quakers
Members of the religious group also known as the Religious Society of
Friends. Quakers reject formal ministry and set forms of worship and
promote the idea of “inner light” and equality in their membership.
Quakers were widely resented as radicals and heretics, and were often
persecuted by Puritans in America during the 17th century.
Shovelboard
A precursor to shuffleboard, this game used to be played by the English
upper classes on long wooden tables. Players used long sticks to push (or
“shove”) coins or metal weights on to a scoring surface at the other end of
the table.
“What book is that?”
The
Malleus
Maleficarum
(translated as The Hammer of
Witches) is a medieval treatise
on
how
to
identify
and
prosecute witches. Written in
1486 by German clergymen
Heinrich Kramer and Jacob
Sprenger,
the
book
was
condemned by the Catholic
church. But it still became the
handbook for the detection
and punishment of witches
throughout the 16th and 17th
centuries.
A page from a manuscript of The Hammer
of Witches (wikimedia user Victuallers)
CONVERSATIONS
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Conversation Starters

Do you have any superstitions?

Have you ever had a spiritual, paranormal, or other experience beyond
everyday reality?

Would you lie to protect someone you love?

Have you ever made an important decision based on fear?

Which do you value more: your well-being or your good reputation?

What is the difference between justice and revenge?

How much should religious values influence our laws or legal processes?

Have you ever been accused of something that you didn't do? How did
you respond?

If you have nothing to hide, do you need any protection from government
investigations?

Do you think those accused of witchcraft in the play received fair trials?
Why or why not?

Most of the accused in the Salem witch trials were women and
marginalized people, including the poor, the elderly, the mentally ill, and
those of non-European backgrounds. Why do you think this was the case?
Do you see any similar patterns today?

In his recent book So You've Been Publicly Shamed, Jon Ronson writes that
public shaming on today’s social media stems from our "desire to do
something good" but can sometimes run amok. If you have done so, what
do you feel while taking part in the online shaming of a public figure?
Have you ever shared a story on social media before you had all the facts?
"Fear defeats more people than any other one
thing in the world."
–Ralph Waldo Emerson
CONVERSATIONS
- 26 -
Mass Hysteria
Mass hysteria is a term for collective delusions or compulsions that spread
quickly through a community due to fear and anxiety. These outbreaks
tend to affect small communities with highly regimented lifestyles. Some
of the earliest mass hysterias on the historical record, for example, took
hold in medieval nunneries where nuns developed strange behaviour en
masse: dancing, biting, crude language, or even meowing like cats.
In our day, factories and schools are particularly susceptible to mass
hysteria. Here are some recent examples:
The June Bug Epidemic
In 1962, workers in a U.S. textile factory reported symptoms of numbness,
nausea, dizziness, and vomiting. The rumour began that there was a type
of bug in the factory that would bite its victims and cause them to develop
the symptoms quickly spread. The mysterious illness spread to 62
employees, some of whom were hospitalized. Research by company
physicians and experts from the U.S. Public Health Service Communicable
Disease Center concluded that the case was one of mass hysteria caused
by anxiety. No evidence was ever found for a bug which could cause the
flu-like symptoms, nor did all workers demonstrate bites.
Satanic Scandal in Martensville, Saskatchewan
In 1992, a mother in the small community of Martensville alleged that a
local woman who ran a babysitting service and daycare centre had
sexually abused her two-year-old child. Police began an investigation and
the allegations escalated into claims of satanic ritual abuse. More than a
dozen people, including five police officers from three different forces,
were charged in connection with running a Satanic cult called the
Brotherhood of the Ram, which allegedly practiced ritualized sexual
abuse. When a Royal Canadian Mounted Police task force took over the
investigation, it concluded the original investigation was clouded by
"emotional hysteria." The interviews of the children were found to be
CONVERSATIONS
- 27 -
mishandled: the questions were leading, and the children had been
praised for giving incriminating answers. The baseless panic over a
Satanic cult paralleled several other cases around the world in the late
1980s and early 1990s.
Twitching Teens at Le Roy High School
In 2001, 18 students from the Junior-Senior High School in Le Roy, New
York, all but one of them female, began experiencing mysterious verbal
outbursts, tics, and seizures. After numerous medical tests for viral,
bacterial, or toxic causes for the symptoms, the teens were diagnosed with
mass psychogenic illness, a type of mass hysteria.
Have you ever felt swept up in a crowd?
When someone describes how they’re feeling, do you ever start
to feel the same way yourself?
"Dance at Molenbeek" by Pieter Brueghel the Younger,
a depiction of medieval dancing mania
CONVERSATIONS
- 28 -
Big Reads from Calgary Public Library
By Rosemary Griebel
A Storm of Witchcraft: The Salem Trials and the American
Experience, by Emerson W. Baker
Non-fiction, 2015. An absorbing account of the Salem witch trials,
showing how not one, but many factors caused the crisis. Baker
knowledgeably shows how politics, religious attitudes, morals,
family feuds, superstition, business practices, class, and frontier
wars converged to create a "perfect storm" of witchcraft fears. He
ends the book with an explicit comparison between 17th-century
worries about witches and 21st-century concerns about terrorists.
Death in Salem: The Private Lives Behind the 1692 Witch
Hunt, by Diane E. Foulds
Non-fiction, 2010. A compelling "who's who" of Salem witchcraft,
examining the often tragic personal lives of the leading players,
from the "bewitched" girls to the innocents they charged. These
compact portraits paint a picture of a repressed, paranoid society
in the midst of chaotic change.
Wicked Girls: A Novel of the Salem Witch Trials, by
Stephanie Hemphill
Fiction, 2010. Were the Salem witch trials just a case of mean girls
gone bad? A fictionalized account of the Salem witch trials, told in
verse from the perspective of Mercy Lewis, Margaret Walcott, and
Ann Putnam, Jr.
CONVERSATIONS
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The Modern Guide to Witchcraft: Your Complete Guide to
Witches, Covens, & Spells, by Skye Alexander
Non-fiction, 2014. Need help to find new love or a better job, get a
cranky boss to lighten up, release stress, or simply find a parking
space? Spellcraft expert Skye Alexander helps you tap into your
own magic and create incantations, potions, rituals, and charms.
So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed, by Jon Ronson
Non-fiction, 2015. A captivating and humorous look at the dark
side of contemporary shaming. Ronson believes that we are living
through “a great renaissance of public shaming” thanks to Twitter,
Facebook, and other social media. Ronson’s overall point is that
the virtual pitchfork mob that creates Twitter storms has a power
that no other form of shaming previously had.
The Paranoid’s Pocket Guide, by Cameron Tuttle
Non-fiction, 1997. Are you worried sick? If not, maybe you should
be. Because that iron may have been left on at home, an angry
adolescent may have spat on your fast food burger, and
drawstring pants could cause your most embarrassing moment.
Including hundreds of bizarre-but-true things that can get you,
this compact volume will induce nervous page flipping and turn
even the most snug and secure folks into bona fide paranoiacs.
Click on the book covers
to check availability at
Calgary Public Library!
CONVERSATIONS
- 30 -
Local Stories: Reading The Crucible in Tripoli
By Isabelle Emery
On September 1, 1969, centuries
after the Salem witch trials, my
father, my sister Roseline, and I
woke up to loud bangs during
the night. Our hotel had been
surrounded by armed soldiers.
My family had lived in Tripoli,
Libya, for three years under the
reign of King Idris. Roseline
was 12 years old and I was 13.
My father had completed his
contract with the Libyan Health
Isabelle Emery
Service and was about to return
us to England. But unfortunately for my father’s plans, Colonel Gadhafi
had just deposed the ailing monarch. We were trapped in that downtown
hotel for ten days, during which the radios only played Arabic military
music, the limited television service was blocked, and no newspapers
were published.
The only entertainment I had, apart from peering at the soldiers from the
balcony until they got bored and sprayed bullets to show off, was to read
the single book in my possession: my father’s battered copy of The
Crucible. But what a treasure it proved to be as I tried to understand the
actions of the citizens and army in response to the change in political
power. The people I saw from my window in Tripoli did not voice
support for or against a revolution until they were assured that change
had indeed taken place. But once it became known that the soldiers
surrounding our hotel were revolutionary, huge crowds gathered on the
streets below to celebrate the revolution.
CONVERSATIONS
- 31 -
This amazed me, because I had previously seen similar crowds line the
streets to praise King Idris and pray for his health. The Crucible provided
an answer to my dilemma. There is a tendency for people to adopt the
beliefs of others as their own – especially when voicing your own opinions
and doubts could lead to danger and ostracism from your community.
And at the same time, as a thirteen-year-old girl living in a maledominated society that censored any expressions of women’s sexual
desire, I could identify with Abigail’s difficulties. As a powerless woman
and servant, she has limited means of obtaining what she desperately
wants.
Isabelle Emery is a Canadian by choice. She has attended Theatre Calgary for
more than thirty years.
Spotlight Saturday
Dig deeper into the ideas! Join us in the lobby after our fourth Saturday
matinee for lively conversations around the themes of our shows. Our
Spotlight Saturday events are free and open to all – no ticket required.
Isabelle Emery
On Reading The Crucible during the 1969 Libyan Revolution
Saturday, November 7, at around 5pm in the Max Bell Theatre lobby
Visit theatrecalgary.com/artists-and-learning to
learn more about our interACTive programming
CONVERSATIONS
- 32 -
Sources
Curtis, Ken. “Who Were the Puritans?” Christianity.com.
www.christianity.com/church/church-history/timeline/1601-1700/whowere-the-puritans-11630087.html
Demos, John. A Little Commonwealth: Family Life in Plymouth Colony. New York:
Oxford UP, 2000.
Galvin, Rachel. “Arthur Miller.” National Endowment for the Humanities. 2011.
www.neh.gov/about/awards/jefferson-lecture/arthur-miller-biography
Horowitz, Mitch. “The Persecution of Witches, 21st-Century Style.” The
New York Times. July 4, 2014.
Karlsen, Carol F. The Devil in the Shape of a Woman: Witchcraft in Colonial
New England. New York: WW Norton, 1998.
Matin, Luke. “The Witch Trials.” 2009.
www.witchcraftandwitches.com/trials.html
Miller, Arthur. Timebends: A Life. New York: Grove, 1987.
“Playwright Arthur Miller Refused Visa For a Visit to Brussels to See His
Play.” The New York Times. Mar 31, 1954.
Schiff, Stacy. “The Witches of Salem.” The New Yorker. Sep 7, 2015.
Salem Witch Trials Documentary Archive and Transciption Project
salem.lib.virginia.edu/home.html
An online archive maintained by the University of Virginia that
contains a wealth of primary source material, including the original
court records of the trials.