“The Crucible” review: packing the entire village of Salem into a heartfelt experience

The curtain calls once more for the Drama Club at MCHS. This time, they presented “The Crucible” by Arthur Miller. With a cast of 21 students, a student director, and Mrs. Silverstein, many showed up to the three performances to show their support for the Advanced Drama Class. Despite the limitations of having a small room, The Spellbinder is glad to praise the show as it was done excellently. We decided to break this review into three sections: performance, environment, and how well the play interpreted the source material.

There was hardly a time in any of the performances where you couldn’t hear the actors. After talking with classmates that attended the first performance (The Spellbinder attended the third performance) we solidified the fact that everything was audible. The actors all played their role well, and each individually embodied the character they wished to portray. In particular, senior Bryan Rodriguez, who played John Proctor, put so much emotion into his part. It goes to show the length and dedication these students are willing to give in order to put on the show.

The sets all captured the scenes in the book surprisingly well. Given the fact that “The Crucible” has different areas ranging from bedrooms to courtrooms, the sets were all on point. Furthermore, one must take time to praise the efficient actors who switched sets really quickly in the span of a minute. The costumes, as explained by the program given to you upon entry, were actually thematic and some were even made the sewing circle!

It was quite surprising to read that each character had a particular color in order to represent something. White was worn by the characters who were innocent, while the characters who had done something wrong were adorned in red. It would have been cool to see Abigail wear a red rose then, as it would be heavily symbolic of her motives in The Spellbinder’s opinion. However, all of the designs and costumes still sat well with us as each character wore something fitting to the role.

All in all, the Spellbinder is pleased to announce the consensus among ourselves that “The Crucible” production was a great one. Although the favorite “Pieces of Home” still remains as the top, simply due to how creative and heartfelt we felt that production was, we now await eagerly for the next production and look forward to reviewing whatever successful show the Advanced Drama class can bring to life.