From October 13 – 16, Arthur Miller’s allegorical Tony Award-winning play, The Crucible, will be staged in the People’s Theatre at Joburg Theatre.
Directed by Laine Butler and Johan Anker and featuring top talent from the NSA, The Crucible will appeal to theatre lovers and learners currently studying the text as a setwork.
“The People’s Theatre provides an intimate playing space perfect for a work of this nature,” says Laine Butler “the young NSA actors have shown remarkable maturity in bringing these complex, yet relatable, characters to life. The growth in their performances as we near opening night augers well for their futures. We believe it will be a memorable season,” concluded director and NSA Drama teacher Laine Butler.
The Arthur Miller trust gave the National School of the Arts permission to set The Crucible in SALEM in the Eastern Cape and the dusty earthy colours in the set and costume designs reflect the landscape of this area of South Africa. The name, SALEM, means peaceful and complete; a bitter irony as the name will forever be synonymous with the tragic witch-hunts which took place in Salem over 300 years ago, and irrationally tool the lives of 19 innocent people who were hanged for being witches.
History repeatedly shows us that conspiracies and hysteria are a lethal combination. With the advent of social media in contemporary society, there is a wave of conspiracy theories on an almost epidemic scale, where people instantly believe the fake news, unsubstantiated claims and opinion before the truth is revealed and understood. People are cancelled and ostracised within a simple algorithmic adjustment. While facts and truths fall prey to fanaticism and paranoia, and those susceptible seek the supernatural to help explain their fear of the unknown, The Crucible will be as relevant as when it premiered sixty-nine years ago.
In the words of Arthur Miller, “For some, the play seems to be about the dilemma of relying on the testimony of small children accusing adults of sexual abuse, something I’d not have dreamed of forty years ago. For others, it may simply be a fascination with the outbreak of paranoia that suffuses the play—the blind panic that, in our age, often seems to sit at the dim edges of consciousness. But below its concerns with justice, the play evokes a lethal brew of illicit sexuality, fear of the supernatural, and political manipulation, a combination not unfamiliar these days.”
Arthur Miller – The New Yorker
October 1996
The Crucible is presented by the NSA Drama Department by arrangement with DALRO (PTY) and directed by Johan Anker and Laine Butler, whose previous NSA productions include the Afro-Punk Macbeth (2017/2018), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (2019) and Hip-Hop Hamlet (2020)
Now, who did you see with the Devil?
Performance Times:
Thursday 13th October @ 19:00
Friday 14th October @ 19:00
Saturday 15th October @ 14:30
Saturday 15th October @ 19:00
Sunday 16th October @ 14:30
Featuring:
Rethabile Mhlongo as Abigail Williams,
Banele Mkhize as John Proctor,
Amahle Ntombela as Elizabeth,
Lesedi Ralebepa as Giles Cory,
Levi Matthews as Parris
Mvelo Mhkize as Mary Proctor
Bookings through Joburg Theatre
Webtickets
Prices
Public: R100
Block Booking Discount: R70 (for ten or more)
Pensioners and NSA Students : R50
Media Enquiries:
Brenda Sakellarides: 0826006739
