Injustice Peace
Mood:  mischievious
Topic: Salem Witch Trials
As We all know...the salem witch trials was a total injustice to innocent people blamed for a villages misfortunes... to pin the blame on something so serious was to the religion was sure to be a desprate act...blinded by superstition...the town of salem executed numerous innocents...falsly accused of serving the devil for non-proven 'witch' powers. O.o...crazy or what O???o!!! Anyway.Article printed from OnMilwaukee.com:



05:20 a.m. September 20, 2004
History repeats itself with mixed review of "The Crucible"
by Ken Morgan
When Arthur Miller's "The Crucible" first opened in 1953, the reviews ranged from unenthusiastic to downright hostile. Viewing this production, the season opener for the Milwaukee Repertory Theater, I'm won't be hostile -- it's professionally done and has some interesting moments -- but otherwise is so "blah" that I can't work up any enthusiasm, either.

Based from the Salem witch trials of 1692, "The Crucible" follows the fortunes of John Proctor, a colonial farmer caught up in the hysteria of a legal system trying to prove the invisible. A sane man in an insane situation, he religiously sticks to his principles, and pays the ultimate price.

It's directed by Joseph Hanreddy, who last year gave us the awesome thunder of "Mary Stuart," and that leaves me wondering why this production is so flat. Puritanism is a passionate religion, a red-hot approach to the covenant between man and God, but this Salem Village seems to value the sort of white-bread politeness that you find in a modern suburb.

What is supposed to be the depths of mob hysteria, hardly anybody ever raises their voice. Speeches are quiet and reasonable, feelings are expressed logically rather than irrationally and physical action is hardly there at all (Proctor's threat to whip Mary Warren has no credibility). It's hard to believe that people's lives are at stake here.

The emotional quotient of the play is pitched so low that you suspect there's Prozac in the water.

Performances are mixed. Torrey Hanson, swiftly becoming my favorite performer at the Rep, plays Reverend John Hale, the learned pastor come to Salem Village to spook out the spirits, and he's remarkable for being the only actor who gets emotionally involved in the show. Everybody else is just "acting."

Lee E. Ernst as John Proctor is at his best during his intimate moments with Laura Gordon as his wife Elizabeth, but otherwise is just earnest, and I found myself rooting neither for him nor against him. Jim Baker as Giles Corey and James Pickering as Governor Danforth have some good moments, but the stylized blandness of the production leaves them little opportunity to display anything other than mild pique.

The big disappointment is Lisa Joyce in the prime role of Abigail Williams, the villain of the play and the cause of it all. She briefly comes alive during her interlude with Proctor discussing their failed love affair, but that's it. In particular, her pivotal courtroom scenes are a wooden wonder; a masterpiece of emotional non-involvement, and it's impossible to believe that she possesses the sort of malice that would bring down a whole village.

The trouble with The Rep's "Crucible" is that it's set at a tepid temperature that will generate only lukewarm interest. Competently done but emotionally empty, I'll give this a "mixed" review -- it's worth your time and money, but don't expect the sort of emotional fireworks the play deserves.

"The Crucible" plays at the Milwaukee Repertory Theatre in downtown Milwaukee through Oct. 10. Call (414) 224-9490 for tickets.



Web address: http://www.onmilwaukee.com/articles/crucible.html
..


^///^...umm...yeah... n.n