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School Resources
The Crucible teachers` notes
Contents
1
Miller the Playwright
4
2
Miller’s style
5
3.
Synopsis
6
4
5
3.1.
Act I
6
3.2.
Act II
6
3.3.
Act III
6
3.4.
Act IV
6
The characters
7
4.1
Activity- hot seating
8
4.2
Activity- inner monologue
8
4.3
Activity- freeze frames
8
Themes
9
5.1
Injustice and hysteria
9
5.2
Betrayal
9
5.3
Intolerance
9
5.4
Persecution
9
5.5
Activity- the space between
10
6
Early Puritan life in the American colonies
11
7
Childhood in the 17th Century
12
8
The director
13
8.1
9
Interview with Dramaturge
Creating a dialect
10 The design team
13
14
15
10.1
An interview with Chris Willems
15
10.2
An interview with Lorinda Smith
16
11 Discovering the Crucible / Tips for Teachers
17
11.1
Life in 1692
17
11.2
The story of the Witch Hunt
17
11.3
People behind the trials
17
11.4
Additional classroom activities
17
11.4.1
Troubled times
18
11.4.2
Timeline of tragedy
18
11.4.3
Letters from Salem
18
11.4.4
Courtroom re-enactment
18
11.4.5
20th Century Witch Hunts
19
12 Resources
20
12.1
Print resources
20
12.2
Books and websites cited and consulted
20
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1 Miller the Playwright
Early in his career, Miller wrote radio plays and in 1945 his first novel Focus was published.
In 1949 Miller won the Pulitzer Prize, three Tony Awards and the New York Drama Critics Circle
Award for what is generally regarded as his most famous play Death of a Salesman.
The most recent film version, starring Dustin Hoffman and John Malkovich (1984) is most like the
theatrical production (Miller, 322).
He began work on The Crucible after a copy of a book about the witch hunts titled The Devil in
Massachusetts by Marion Starkey coincidently fell into his hands (Miller, 330). In 1961 he wrote The
Misfits for his then wife, Marilyn Monroe. The Misfits starred Clark Gable as Marilyn's leading man
and it was the last movie that either Marilyn or Clark would ever make (Miller, 382-385).
Arthur Miller wrote twenty-five plays over a career spanning more than fifty years. He died at his
home on the10th February 2005 aged 89.
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2 Miller’s style
Arthur Miller had a reputation for being pedantic. He maintained, and his estate continues to
maintain artistic control over his plays. Miller never ever let anyone else have more creative input
than himself. He was a visually descriptive playwright both in his stage directions and settings. Miller
surmised what the audience should see and what the actor should feel, (Chalk, Semester 1 2004)
Miller's plays, including The Crucible include pages of detailed information addressing the concerns
of both the actors and the audience.
In preparation for writing The Crucible, he studied pages and pages of court transcripts of the
Salem witch hunts in order to develop ideas and to create an authentic dialect (Miller 331-340). He
took small ideas from the testimonies given in the courts and fleshed them out into stories. In fact,
the basis for John Proctor's and Abigail Williams' affair was based on the tension he discovered that
the two of them shared throughout the actual court proceedings (Miller 331-340,
www.newyorker.com)
'This play is not history in the sense in which the word is used by the academic historian. Dramatic
purposes have sometimes required many characters to be fused into one; the number of girls
involved in the 'crying out' has been reduced; Abigail's age has been raised; while there were
several judges of almost equal authority, I have symbolized them all in Hathorne and Danforth.
However, I believe that the reader will discover here the essential nature of one of the strangest and
most awful chapters in human history. The fate of each character is exactly that of his historical
model, and there is no one in the drama who did not play a similar-and in some cases exactly the
same-role in history.
As for the characters of the persons, little is known about most of them except what may be
surmised from a few letters, the trial record, certain broadsides written at the time, and references to
their conduct in sources of varying reliability. They may therefore be taken as creations of my own,
drawn to the best of my ability in conformity with their known behaviour, except as indicated in the
commentary I have written for this text.'
Arthur Miller (A Note on the Historical Accuracy of The Crucible, The Crucible, 13)
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3. Synopsis
After being caught dancing in the woods with Tituba, Reverend Parris' black slave, the teenage girls
of Salem claim that they have been touched by the devil and that Tituba is to blame. As rumours of
witchcraft begin to spread in the town, Reverend Hale, a Boston expert on witchcraft, is called to
make investigations into the goings-on. However, the status-obsessed Minister of Salem, Reverend
Parris grows impatient and calls in the judiciary to begin the trials of the accused witches.
As the story unfolds it becomes apparent that the girls are being manipulated by Abigail Williams.
Abigail's affections for John Proctor invoke dark passions and serious consequences follow her
actions that leave the Proctor family in great danger. The young girl's vengeance creates a ruse
that lures the girls deeper and deeper into a moral and legal quagmire until they have no choice but
to continue so as not to find themselves condemned; for it is clear, all those who turn against Abigail
are destined to hang. The townsfolk are solicited one by one to either turn against their God in order
to save themselves, or to stay true to their faith and die for their beliefs.
3.1.Act I
The play begins with Betty Parris, daughter of the reverend, ill in bed after dancing with Tituba and
other girls of the village. Rumours have already begun that Betty and the other affected girls are the
victims of witchcraft. Reverend Parris sends for Reverend Hale to identify the affliction. It is revealed
that Abigail Williams, Reverend Parris' niece was also present on the night of the dancing. Abigail is
already seen as a soiled woman in the town due to a rumour of a lustful interlude with John Proctor,
which has not gone unnoticed by the village gossips. Reverend Hale begins his investigation and
Betty awakens and threatens to tell the truth as to what they were doing in the woods, but Abigail
threatens the girls to stay quiet. John Proctor visits the home of Reverend Parris and on his
departure Abligail talks alone with him and admits that the girls are ‘sporting'.
3.2.Act II
The opening to this scene sees John returning from the fields to his wife. The action takes place in
their house. Elizabeth informs John that fourteen people have been imprisoned in the trials and that
Mary Warren, the Proctor's housekeeper, is absent from their home each day as she is a witness in
the court proceedings. Mary returns with the unforeseen and unwelcome news that Goody Proctor
has been mentioned in the proceedings and that her accuser is Abigail. Proctor is furious and
forbids Mary to go to the court, yet as he is the only person to whom Abigail has confided in, he is
compelled to tell Elizabeth and further incriminate himself as an adulterer. Hale approaches the
home and while he is questioning the pureness and godliness of the Proctors, the authorities arrive
and arrest Elizabeth for witchcraft.
3.3.Act III
Proctor and Mary go to the court to inform Deputy Governor Danforth and the others that the girls
are not affected by witchcraft and to plea Elizabeth's innocence. As Mary tries to stand up to Abigail,
the girls accuse her of sending her spirit out to harm them, and she has no choice but to rejoin the
madness to avoid their vengeance. The ‘truth' becomes John's word against Abigails and it is
Abigail who holds the power which inevitably condemns Proctor.
3.4.Act IV
A little time has passed and Abigail has disappeared, leaving the people of Salem to sort out the
chaos she created. The jail is full of condemned witches waiting to be hanged. Proctor is one of
them. Elizabeth is asked to convince John to confess which he initially does, but then retracts with
tragic consequences, in order to save himself.
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4 The characters
Tituba is the first person to be accused of witchcraft. She is represented as a black slave from
Barbados in The Crucible, however much research has documented that Tituba was, in reality, a
Native American Indian from the north (cite). Tituba is probably the first to be accused because she
is an exotic foreigner who is different and the fact the she encourages the girls to dance and chant
seals her fate.
Sarah Good is the second person to be accused of witchcraft. Sarah Good is an old homeless
mother who is distrusted by the townspeople. She is an anomaly to the strict Puritan code of
behaviour because she goes door to door begging with her children. Several villagers, including her
own husband, testify against her and Sarah is put in prison alongside her five-year-old daughter
Dorcas who is chained to a wall.
Abigail Williams is the young woman making the accusations and is held responsible of unleashing
the witch hunts in Salem. Her motivation in The Crucible appears to stem from John's denial of her
affections and of Elizabeth's removing her from the Proctor home. The name Abigail was
understood by the Puritans to mean ‘good role models for girl'.
Reverend Parris is the father of Betty Parris and the uncle of Abigail Williams. He is disliked by
many of the town's people who doubt his ability as a leader and they mistrust his sincerity as a
preacher. He has been in the village for five years and his popularity is on the decline. He calls in
the hierarchy from Boston to judge the ‘witches'. Parris drives the action of the play by continuing to
put forth his own beliefs, suspicions and accusations. He becomes increasingly unbearable as the
action evolves.
John Proctor is a local farmer who represents the hard working pilgrims who founded the state of
Massachusetts. He does not support the trials as Abigail confides in him that it is all a ruse. As the
trial unfolds, the plot thickens and lands John in the courtroom defending both himself and his wife,
Elizabeth. It is his betrayal of his wife with the younger Abigail that becomes the central theme in the
play.
Elizabeth Proctor is John's wife. She is an angst-ridden woman who is probably suffering from
post-natal depression after the birth of her third child. The dialogue in the play suggests that
Elizabeth is cold and candid with John and this gives him a reason and permission to seduce
Abigail. The conflict that emerges and intensifies as the play progresses between John, Elizabeth
and Abigail is the tension that drives the action. Elizabeth's life is spared because she is pregnant.
Mary Warren, the Proctor's maid, is an innocent and contradictory character in The Crucible. She
symbolises the threatened child in us all. She is manipulated by Abigail Williams, threatened by
John Proctor and reassured by the Governor Danforth. Mary manages to change her story to best
suit her circumstances. Mary simply wants to please God and not end up at the end hanging.
Rebecca Nurse is a pious grandmother and when she is accused of witchcraft it is apparent that
the world has indeed gone mad. Reverend Hale espouses these exact words towards the end of
The Crucible and it could be argued that it is to Rebecca Nurse that he is referring.
Deputy Governor Danforth represents authority. He instils fear and desperation into the
inhabitants of Salem because he has the power to take their lives from them. He is what we would
refer today as ‘the hanging judge'. As the story unfolds, he appears to be less interested in the facts
and more consumed by his power. As the tension rises and his adrenalin increases the trials
become a spectacle rather than a system of justice. The accused are the guilty proving their
culpability, rather than the innocent proving their virtue.
Reverend John Hale represents the voice of reason. He is an intelligent and sensitive man who is
not easily influenced. His concern is for the people and for the truth. Unlike the other authoritarian
and judicial figures in the play, who allude to being primarily ruthless and ambitious, Hale truly is in
possession of good morals and principles. He does not get caught up in the hysteria and it seems
that this is because he does not have an agenda of his own. He simply wants to find the real cause
of the fits and ravings of the young girls.
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Giles Corey is a larrikin. He knows the court system and has played the system to his advantage in
the past. But he plays it one time too often and ends up at the mercy of the court. Interestingly, he is
the only person not to end up at the end of a rope instead he is crushed to death by the authorities
who place heavy stones on his chest.
4.1 Activity- hot seating
Items needed: One chair
Method
1. One student takes the hot seat. They then become a character from The Crucible. Let the
students choose whom they might like to portray - Mary Warren, Abigail Williams, John
Procter, Reverend Hale
2. Students in the audience get to ask the student questions, as though they were that
character. It is the job of the person in the hot seat to answer the questions as concisely as
possible.
This activity is a good way for the students to get a feel for what the trials may have been like.
Should the teacher or leader choose a jury, then through hot seating a re-enactment of the witch
trials can take place and could be totally encompassing.
4.2 Activity- inner monologue
Method
1. Two or more students choose a section of the play to act out.
As they read through the piece, ask them to think of the underlying thoughts of the
character. What is behind what is being said?
2. Ask the students to repeat the reading while vocalising these inner thoughts.
This activity is a good way to teach about the depth of characters in plays.
4.3 Activity- freeze frames
Method
1. Assign students smaller groups of about 5 students each.
2. Each group is given a part of the play that they must turn into a frozen image created with
their bodies.
For example: the girls dancing in the woods, the arrival of Reverend Hale, the trials or the
actual hangings.
3. Students may wish to take on the roles of the characters, or the surroundings, but all must
create a final frozen image.
4. Each student should then explain to the others in the class who they represent, and what
that person or thing would be feeling at that point in time.
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5 Themes
5.1
Injustice and hysteria
In January 1953, The Crucible premiered on Broadway to a bitterly cold reception (Miller 3353570). During the 1950's, the American people were besieged by the US government, under the
guidance of Senator Joseph McCarthy to renounce any influence of communist philosophy. The
House of Un-American Activities Committee was set up to investigate American citizens who were
accused of communist affiliations (known as the Second Red Scare). In every lounge room across
the country paranoia took hold and resulted in a hysteria which saw neighbour accusing neighbour
of harbouring pro-communist beliefs. In 1956, Miller was charged with having attended Communist
Party meetings and found guilty of contempt of Congress for refusing to name other artists and
writers who he might know as having communist sympathies (Miller, 95-102, 251, 262-4).
The Crucible undeniably draws a parallel between the gratuitous Salem witch hunts and the
Second Red Scare (Miller 330-332). Similarly, the threat of witches among the ranks of Puritan
colonists was comparable to the threat of communists among decent American citizens. Once the
idea of witchcraft was planted in the minds of the town's people members of the community began
turning against each other as a way to deal with their fear of being persecuted.
Miller was sent to jail for his non-compliance to provide names to the court and this is clearly
mirrored in The Crucible where innocent victims are convicted and hanged for the same offence.
The hysteria Miller felt about the ‘naming of names' is again masterly analogous to the ways
in which the possessed girls provide the names of townsfolk whom they feel have slighted them.
Informative website on McCarthy and McCarthyism:

5.2
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/database/mccarthyism.html
Betrayal
Poignantly, The Crucible explores much more than this theme alone. It is also the story of betrayal
and, in particular, the betrayal between a husband and a wife within the sanctity of a conventional
marriage. However, John Proctor who is guilty of infidelity is not alone. Many of the characters are
guilty of betrayal. Abigail betrays her whole community in order to seduce John. Those who falsely
confess to witchcraft betray their relationship with God and their church.
5.3
Intolerance
The accusations throughout the witch trials are an expression of intolerance. In Puritan society
where things are either black or white, good or bad, with god or with the devil, the trials and the
hangings were a convenient way to erase any middle ground.
5.4
Persecution
The Crucible is also about persecution. History has provided us with canons of documented
information about the persecution of the Jewish people from the Bible up until the chronicles of the
Second World War. Miller, who was Jewish, would surely have had an inescapable imprint of
atrocities of the holocaust embedded firmly in his psyche.
Furthermore, this play insists that it is every individual's responsibility to accept liability for the
wrongs of the past. Miller's plays, explore the American way of life but the themes, issues and
concerns presented in The Crucible are a universal phenomenon?.
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5.5
Activity- the space between
1. Assign each student a character from the play.
2. Ask the students to choose a main character. This may be Abigail or John, or anyone else
the students justify as important.
3. The character should take a position in the centre of the room.
4. Instruct the other characters to position close to those that they had a close relationship
with, and far away from those they do not have a close relationship with. This allows the
students to gauge the amount of tension between the characters.
(For example, Abigail would stand as close as she could to John, while still staying as far
away as possible from Elizabeth.)
When everyone has finalised their positions, go around the group and ask each person to justify
their decisions.
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6 Early Puritan life in the American colonies
The Puritans were colonists who left England to avoid religious persecution for the safety of the new
world. Their particular Protestant Church was the cornerstone of 17th century life in what they called
their New England, and is today Massachusetts (www.discoverschool.com). Perversely, the strict
Puritan code was far from tolerant. Men and women sat on opposite sides of the church and it was
against the law not to attend Sunday worship (www.discoverschool.com). The Puritan lifestyle was
reserved and rigid and people were expected to work hard and repress their emotions
(www.newengland.ancestors.org).
The Indian name for Salem was Naumkeag (www.discoveryschool.com) and at the time of the witch
hunts Salem was under British rule and under attack by Native Americans as well as French
Canadians (www.discoveryschool.com). The events of 1692 took place during a difficult and confusing
period for the small township. As part of the Massachusetts Bay Colony the settlement was waiting
for a new governor and had no charter to enforce laws. By the time the new governor, William
Phips, arrived in Massachusetts, the jails were already filled with so-called witches
(www.discoveryschool.com).
The colonists were an unsophisticated people who felt very much at the mercy of their God in their
new world. They knew very little about the land, the original ‘native' inhabitants of their
colonies, or about human behaviour in stressful situations. Primarily farmers, they had difficult lives
and faced unrelenting challenges in a harsh climate. An epidemic of smallpox could kill an entire
family (www.discoverschool.com) and in a world where people saw the Devil lurking behind every
misfortune, it is little wonder they believed evil spirits were at work. The Puritans put their faith in
God, yet a powerful belief in the Devil helped them make sense of that which they could not explain.
Satan, of course, preyed on the weakest individuals - women, children, foreigners, slaves, and those
with mental incapacities. These individuals were often labelled witches, and hanging was the
answer to witchery as it ‘saved' the individual from a life on earth under Satan's power and
reunited the ‘sufferer' with God.
Today Salem is known as the City of Peace and The Crucible has allowed the city to establish a
cultural identity for itself by no longer being embarrassed by its murky past and instead has
embraced the Salem Witch Trials as a moment in America's eclectic and durable history
(www.salemweb.com, www.usahistory.info).
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7 Childhood in the 17th Century
In 1692, children were expected to behave under the same strict code as their parents, in fact the
notion of what we know as ‘childhood' did not become popular until the late 1800s. Children in the
colonies did chores, attended church and repressed individual differences, just as their parents
(www.discoveryschool.com). Emotional outbursts of any kind were severely punished and there was
no such thing as excitement, joy or anger. Children rarely played, as toys and games did not yet
exist. Puritans saw these activities as sinful distractions. Some children learned to read, but the only
book in most households was the Bible (www.discoveryschool.com).
Young boys had a few outlets for their imagination. They worked as apprentices outside the home,
practicing such skills as carpentry or crafts. However, they were encouraged to explore the outdoors
through hunting and fishing. Young girls were expected to clean the house and help their mothers
cook, wash, clean, and sew and nothing more. Young women found in the woods alone could
easily arouse the suspicions of fearful townsfolk (www.thehistoryplace.com).
Such was the world of Abigail Williams and Betty Parris during the long, dark winter of 1692. There
was little to feed their imagination that did not warn of sin and eternal punishment. It is no wonder
that the young girls were so captivated by Tituba's magical stories and fortune-telling games. These
activities were strictly forbidden, which must have filled them with fear and guilt. This may have been
one reason for their hysterical behaviour. And at a time when young girls were forbidden to act out
or express themselves, it is easy to see why they were so enraptured by the attention they received
when they became ‘bewitched'.
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8 The director
Robert Ketton was educated at The King's School Tynemouth and Newcastle upon Tyne University
where he studied Drama in Education under the legendary Dorothy Heathcote and later acting at the
Burton School of Speech and Drama. He was appointed as inaugural theatre teacher at Burton on
Trent Grammar School and subsequently was made Head of Drama at Foxhills Comprehensive
School in Lincolnshire. In 1974, Robert migrated to Australia where he helped introduce Theatre into
Queensland Secondary schools by assisting in writing the initial syllabus.
In 1976, he was appointed lecturer in Theatre in Education at DDIAE (now University of Southern
Queensland) where, in 1992 he was made Senior Lecturer in Acting. Robert has written some
dozen plays, published collaboratively eight books, directed over 25 major stage productions.
Earlier this year, Robert acted as script consultant on So I am Born a musical by Dan Moran which
premiered in July to great acclaim in Mackay. He is currently working on the film Tightrope, a
Queensland Police initiative aimed at road accident prevention.
8.1
Interview with Dramaturge
Elle - What is your vision for The Crucible?
Robert - The Crucible is first and foremost a teaching production for second year acting students.
The characters in The Crucible are a rich and complex group of people, so the challenge for the
actors is to play roles of people who are out of their age group and from a different cultural context.
It is an exciting process for me to watch. The audience will be challenged by the fact that small
domestic issues can, quite unintentionally, ultimately have huge ramifications.
Elle - What do you consider to be the main themes in this play, and do you consider the themes in
The Crucible to have relevance to issues that are evolving in the world today?
Robert - Injustice and the tension between individual freedom verses authority. On a human scale it
is about trust in relationships and how the breakdown of a relationship can lead to unforeseen
circumstances.
I think we are constantly inventing enemies for ourselves. We are always looking for things that are
not there. Look at how we invaded Iraq looking for weapons of mass destruction. Looking for these
weapons is like looking for witchcraft. Some people of Salem wanted to confront John Proctor. Had
Abigail not moved into the Proctor's home, well 'would the events have taken place at all?'.
Elle - The Crucible is performed over and over again, what do you believe the play owes its
enduring appeal to?
Robert - The themes in The Crucible are universal and timeless. Infidelity, injustice, persecution,
dogma are, and probably always will be, a part of human nature.
Elle - How do you direct your actors to take on the mindset and attitudes of the Puritans?
Robert - This play has so many strengths. It is not a cliché and the characters are not caricatures.
The characters a very real people and there are elements of us all in the people on the stage. The
trick is finding those elements. The actors in The Crucible are young. It is the development of their
observations and thoughts about the issues that will inform their performance. The skill for the
actors is finding those elements within themselves.
Elle - Why is this such an important play for any one studying drama, American History or Law to
see?
Robert There are very few modern plays that are enduring because, very often, a play deals with
topical issue but because this play deals with universal themes and concerns it speaks to every
generation. I couldn't say for sure, but I would warrant a guess that this play will still be being
performed in two hundred years time.
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9 Creating a dialect
Dramaturge interviews Bernadette Pryde, Lecturer in Voice at USQ. Her role in The Crucible was to
create a dialect that may have been spoken by the Puritans.
Elle - What was involved in creating the dialect that the townspeople in The Crucible speak?
Bernadette - Usually if actors have to learn a dialect for a play they will listen and mimic people who
speak with the dialect. So, if you have to play an Irish character you will try to copy the speech
habits of people from Ireland until you can speak your lines comfortably in the Irish dialect. For The
Crucible the process was very different. You see, the way people speak changes all the time, and
over the centuries we have added new words to our vocabulary and we have changed the way we
pronounce things. We do not know how people spoke in Salem in the 1600's, but we do know that
the language would have sounded different from the way we speak today. This meant that the
actors couldn't simply find Puritans to listen to and mimic until they felt confident using the dialect.
So, we had to create a dialect.
To do this, firstly we researched the characters' history. From this we found that a good deal of the
Puritans originated from East Anglia in England. Secondly, we searched for information about how
the people of East Anglia speak today. We then compared the East Anglian dialect with the Boston
dialect spoken in Massachusetts today. At this point we decided on which vowel sounds in the
language could sound the same as the way we speak today and which vowels needed to be altered
to sound more like a cross between an East Anglian and a Boston dialect. Investigations into the
geography and the climate of the Salem region told us that the people would have been used to a
rather harsh and chilly environment. This information helped us decide on how the consonants
should be pronounced and what the tune of the dialect should sound like.
So the townspeople's dialect should sound familiar to a modern audience but somehow different. It
hopefully gives the listener an insight into how the English language may have sounded centuries
ago, before the evolution of the American dialects we hear so often on radio and television today.
Elle - Are there differences in the way that the officials from Boston speak as compared with the
townspeople?
Bernadette - Yes. We decided that the high status characters, like the Judges, should sound like
they have ties to the upper classes in England. As supposedly learned men originating from Britain
we recognised that they wouldn't sound like the farmers from East Anglia. So, the Judges speak, in
what we call, Received Pronunciation, which is a form of English speech that is used by people like
the Royal family, scholars, and up until fairly recently, BBC newsreaders. Of course, the other
dialect that is different in the play is the Barbados dialect used by the character Tituba. Both the
Received Pronunciation and the Barbados dialects exist today so the actors using them could listen
and mimic people who use these dialects in order to prepare for their roles.
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10 The design team
Chris Willems lectures in Design at USQ and designs superb sets for the USQ's Theatre season's
diverse and varied theatre productions. He has worked in television and theatre and continues to
delight audiences with his original and unique sets.
Lorinda Smith, a second year Stage Management student in USQ's Department of Theatre, has
designed the costumes for The Crucible as part of her assessment. Lorinda has an interest in
design but is amazed by just how much she learnt about herself and her career prospects through
her role. She admits that a passion has been awakened in her and that this will not be her last stint
in costume design.
10.1 An interview with Chris Willems
Elle - Tell me about your design for The Crucible?
Chris - I always work in consultation with the Director and keep his or her vision in mind. My design
is wooden and unadorned. It is simple, plain and basic. I wanted the set to be as flexible as possible
so that the director could create changing spaces. It is minimal, but I wouldn't call it minimalist in the
Japanese sense, but it has minimal elements so that environments can be created and changed
within the drama.
I read the play and get a feel for it. I then look at the needs of the production. I dream a bit at first
and then I edit my thoughts. There are always constraints in any production and design is a practical
art.
Elle - Does your design evolve or do you sit down and design it all at one time?
Chris - It evolves. Art is an evolving and exciting process and I always know the constraints before I
begin. Design is imaginative play and I then turn the imaginative play into a practical outcome.
Design is an evolution of ideas.
Elle - I noticed there were fridge boxes forming a living space in the rehearsal room, what are these
going to be transformed into?
Chris - The fridge boxes are just substitute panels for the actors to rehearse with and for the
Director to work with while blocking the play. They will be replaced with plywood panels that again
represent the plainness and simpleness of the people. They sit on feet and can be manipulated by
the Director to create directorial opportunities and options.
Elle - Do they symbolise something other than what they appear to be?
Chris - That is one of the wonderful things about theatre which is not present in TV or film - it is the
audience's imagination that gives meaning to the panels. The audience can make information out of
information and create their own meaning; that is what makes theatre so special and
transformational.
Elle - What kinds of sets do you like best?
Chris - Minimalist. I prefer sets that are suggestive rather than contrived. I have designed both.
People talk about naturalistic interpretation but I say there is no such thing as naturalism only
degrees of stylisation.
The Arts Theatre is a challenging space. It has limitations and presents the Designer with many
obstacles but I look at these challenges as opportunities for creativity. It allows me to explore into
my creativity. It makes one be more innovative in one's creative approach.
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10.2 An interview with Lorinda Smith
Elle - The Puritans were not flamboyant people. Does this have an affect on your designs for The
Crucible?
Lorinda - Definitely. I work in conjunction with the Director and Robert wanted a traditional style.
The Puritans believed that plainness was next to Godliness and my designs reflect that attitude.
Elle - What do you use as inspiration when you are designing costumes?
Lorinda - Paintings from this era. The camera was not invented in 1692.
Elle - Do costumes reflect the personality of the character?
Lorinda - Yes. If you look at it as the actors create the internal personality of the character, the
costumes create the external personality of the character. Costumes are an extension of the
character.
Elle - Are colours that characters wear significant to the role?
Lorinda - Yes. In Puritan times only the rich were able to wear black clothes as black dye was very
expensive. Only the poor wore brown or beige clothes.
In The Crucible the judges wear black and white clothes and this symbolises that the law courts and
the judges see people as guilty or not guilty. In the courtroom you are either right or wrong. There
are no shades of grey worn by the clergy either. You are either with God or with the Devil. Abigail,
on the other hand, is portrayed as a flirt and a little bit daring and she wears a shade of red. I took
my inspiration for her costume from the Scarlet Letter, a book about prostitutes who were required
to wear a red sash so that people knew they were prostitutes. It is not spoken of in the play, but it is
widely rumoured that Abigail becomes a prostitute on the streets of Boston.
Elle - As a designer, Is it more demanding to design classical pieces that you have researched from
history or to create original contemporary pieces that are from your own imagination?
Lorinda - Historical pieces because you have to design them within the correct time frame, they
have to be authentic. Contemporary pieces are drawn from a wider spectrum and there is more
freedom for self-expression.
Elle - How do you find out what kinds of shoes, bonnets and gloves the girls wore in 1692?
Lorinda - I consult with Carolyn Taylor-Smith, the Costume Designer here at USQ and also with
Robert and Chris. I also look on the internet and get ideas from books.
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11 Discovering the Crucible / Tips for Teachers
The information in this section is sourced directly from a web site titled The Salem Witch Trails:
Teacher's Tips on www.discoveryschool.com with minor changes made by the writer and the inclusion
of Troubled Times Activity. This is an informative and user-friendly site for both students and
teachers to visit as it has a vast amount of useful information which may be helpful when studying
The Crucible and early American history.
11.1 Life in 1692
Students will discover some of the daily challenges, fears, and pressures of life in 17th century
Salem. They'll get a quick look at the general state of Salem Village as a part of the Massachusetts
Bay Colony and learn about real problems faced by Puritan farmers - from Native American raids to
smallpox. Then they'll get an in-depth look at three major factors behind the witch trials: the role of
Puritanism and the belief in witchcraft, the divisions and feuds within Salem, and the expectations of
children in 17th century New England. Students will get a better sense of what life was really like in
1692 Salem - and begin to see the events in light of Salem's life and times.
11.2 The story of the Witch Hunt
This interactive presentation shows the events of 1692 - from the first accusations to the end of the
trials. A captivating narrative is combined with engaging images and audio to create a short 'movie'
of important facts of the witch trials. Students will watch the events unfold and learn what may have
sparked the accusations - and how the simple games of young girls led to the hysteria that swept
over the village. In addition, they'll see how the examinations, trials, and hangings transpired in less
than a year - but left 24 innocent people dead.
11.3 People behind the trials
This section tells the stories of six individuals - from a bewitched young girl, to the accused witches,
to town leaders - whose lives were touched by the events. Students will learn the unique role that
each person played in the trials and get a firsthand look at the events through documents from the
day. For each individual, students will find an excerpt from a primary source document - such as a
trial transcript or a letter - along with a question that directs their reading.
There is a section on the history of the United States that studies the characteristics of societies in
the Americas, Western Europe, and Western Africa that increasingly interacted after 1450 as well as
how political, religious, and social institutions emerged in the English colonies. There is also a study
on how the values and institutions of European economic life took root in the colonies and how
slavery reshaped European and African life in the Americas.
There is also a section on World History that studies the economic, political, and cultural
interrelations among peoples of Africa, Europe, and the Americas between 1500 and 1750.
11.4 Additional classroom activities
Introduce this project by brainstorming what students know and would like to know about the Salem
witch trials. When did they occur? How long did the trials last? Who was responsible for the
accusations? What happened to the victims? Why were certain people accused? What was the age
and gender of the accused witches? What was the evidence used to convict the accused? What
brought an end to the trials? Keep this list on a board in the classroom. After you've explored the
project with your class, return to the list. Were their initial impressions of the witch trials correct?
What were they most surprised to learn?
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11.4.1 Troubled times
Ask students to consider what life was really like for the community of Salem Village. Begin by
exploring the online feature, 'Life in 1692 Salem'. What were some of the challenges and fears the
Puritans faced every day? What was it like to be a child in Puritan New England? What did Puritans
see as the cause for misfortune? As a class, discuss how each of these factors may have played a
role in the witch trials. What do they think the main cause of the hysteria may have been?
Items needed: Each student should receive a piece of paper (folded so that no one else can see)
with the word Innocent on it.
Method
1. Advise the students not to show anyone their card, but inform them that there is a witch
amongst them.
2. Give the students a scenario (in this instance, the Salem witch hunt) and tell them to go
about their everyday business (farming, cleaning, and going to church) but to keep an eye
out for any suspicious actions amongst them.
3. Suspicions will begin to rise amongst them, and before long, there will be an accusation.
4. In order to accuse someone, there must be a reason that the student considers worthy
(although it may be nothing, like the girls in the crucible) a reason for accusation may be
'She looked at me, and I tripped'.
5. The others then become a jury and decide if that is an offence of a witch.
6. Continue if time allows.
7. At the end, teacher asks group to sit in a circle and asks them to read out their cards to the
rest of the group.
8. The group will soon notice that everyone is innocent.
9. Teacher can draw parallels between the paranoia of the students and the paranoia of those
in the witch hunts.
Warning: Game can be time consuming, but also, if managed correctly may be a good lead
in to a lesson.
11.4.2 Timeline of tragedy
As students watch The Story of the Witch Hunt, ask them to take notes dating important events
during the trial. Working in pairs, have students create a timeline of the accusations, examinations,
trials, and hangings. Encourage them to use online sources to help complete the timeline. They may
also want to print images or draw their own pictures to illustrate the different events on the timeline.
11.4.3 Letters from Salem
Have students explore the biographies and primary source documents in People Behind the Trials.
Ask students to choose one featured person and try to imagine themselves in his or her shoes.
What motivated their actions? What do you think they were thinking or feeling? Have each student
write a letter from the person they chose. Their letters could be written to real people from Salem or
to a fictional person.
11.4.4 Courtroom re-enactment
Recreate the Salem witch trials in your classroom using excerpts from actual trial transcripts. (See
'Sarah Good' or 'Tituba' in People Behind the Trials or find other transcripts online at
http://www.salemwitchtrials.com/transcripts.html.) Before you begin, assign different students to play
the role of the judge, the accused, and perhaps the young girls in the courtroom. Discuss what you
know about the people involved and the courtroom setting. Tell students that unlike today's courts,
those accused had to defend themselves and were considered guilty until proven innocent. Perhaps
the most important difference is that the Salem trials accepted ‘evidence' - claims from the girls that
they were being hurt by spirits of the accused witches, which no one else could see.
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th
11.4.5 20 Century Witch Hunts
Discuss the definition of a witch hunt with your class. A witch hunt occurs any time a group of people
persecutes another group unfairly, usually blaming that group for larger problems. Ask students to
think of examples of 'witch hunts' during the 20th century - such as the Holocaust, the McCarthy
trials, and the Japanese internment camps. Have students research a modern-day witch hunt and
compare and contrast it with the Salem witch trials.
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12 Resources
12.1 Print resources
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Beyond the Burning Time by Kathryn Lasky (Scholastic, 1996)
The Devil in Massachusetts by Marion L. Starkey (Doubleday, 1949)
The Devil in Salem Village: The Story of the Salem Witchcraft Trials by Laurel Van der
Linde (Millbrook Press, 1992)
I, Tituba, Black Witch of Salem by Maryse Conde (University Press of Virginia, 1992)
In the Days of the Salem Witch Trials by Marilynne K. Roach (Houghton Mifflin, 1996)
Narratives of the Witchcraft Cases: 1648-1707 edited by George L. Burr (Charles Scribner's
Sons, 1914)
Salem Possessed: The Social Origins of Witchcraft by Paul Boyer and Stephen
Nissenbaum. (Harvard University Press, 1974)
The Salem Witchcraft Papers edited by Paul Boyer and Stephen Nissenbaum. (Da Capo
Press, 1977)
12.2 Books and websites cited and consulted
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Miller, Arthur A. The Crucible. Middlesex, England. Penguin. 1953.
Miller, Arthur A. Timebends: A Life. London. Methuen. 1987.
Chalk, D. Introduction to the History and Theory of Drama. USQ. Semester 1 2004.
The following are websites on American History:
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http://newengland.ancestors.org
http://salemweb.com
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