For the sixth time on Broadway, its the season of the witch.
As a theatrical experience in 2016,The Crucibleneeds freshening up.
And van HovesThe Crucible, likewise, makes no pretense of being set in the 1690s.
Credit: Jan Versweyveld
Theres also a sink with running tap water and a stove with the gas tank exposed.
There are fluorescent lights on the ceiling and speakers on the wall.
And the actors are dressed in school uniforms and faux H&M sweaters.
Van Hove also doesnt forget to pump some of the lines with humor.
Stay close, says a mother to the men attending her ill daughter, in case she flies!
That line gets a laugh, deservedly, since the audience knows that people cant fly.
But van Hove, curiously, then shows the girl actually levitating.
Van Hove has a knack for stagecraft, thats for sure.
(Miler explicitly based him on Joseph McCarthy and not any of the historically known Salem figures.)
You may walk out of the play despising Danforth for his authoritarian ruthlessness, but thats the easy route.
