Here is an unmistakable sign of a theatre stepping up several notches and moving into the big leagues.
For the last few years the Yard has been a buzzy, boundary-pushing sort of place, but the stark clarity of this vision of the Arthur Miller classic is something else.
Jay Miller’s vividly intense production mashes modern and traditional dress to make us examine this familiar story anew and gives us a woman playing John Proctor to boot. It is, without doubt, the finest production of The Crucible I have ever seen.
Caoilfhionn Dunne as flawed hero Procter surely points the best way forward for gender and casting: here is a fine performer matched to a great part, with no need for characters to be gender-swapped. Dunne gives a turn of quiet majesty as the increasingly isolated voice of reason in Salem, a town where, inexorably, every intention and everyone slides into suspicion of witchcraft. Emma D’Arcy is equally compelling as Procter’s wife Elizabeth.
Designer Cécile Trémolières presents a striking opening image: a set of red chairs, with characters’ names embroidered on white backrests. It’s a crafty way of introducing us to a role-doubling cast of nine, who initially sit still, speak in their own accents and share the stage directions. Gradually they slip into American voices, period costume and naturalistic movement, but long before they do we’re completely hooked, as Abigail Williams (Nina Cassells) and the other young women become bringers of terrible justice.
Until May 11 (theyardtheatre.co.uk)
