By Steve Hubrecht
This year the David Thompson Secondary School (DTSS) senior theatre students have taken a turn for the serious with their class play, as they will be performing Arthur Miller’s ‘The Crucible’ in a few weeks.
The Crucible, one of the most famous plays written during the 20th century, is set during the Salem witch trails of the 1690s in New England. It tells the dramatic tale of a Puritan village descending into near hysteria as accusations of (and arrests for) witchcraft fly, uncovering the village’s buried social fault lines. Miller wrote the play in 1953 during the height of the Red Scare, intending it as an allegory (and critique) of McCarthyism.
The play touches on plenty of heavy topics and comes as a change of pace from the senior theatre class’s plays of recent years, which included plenty of satire, comedy and outlandish costumes.
But that’s precisely what this year’s senior theatre class was looking for, explained Grade 12 student Solayah Lawrence.
“It’s more challenging to do a serious play with strong themes,” added fellow Grade 12 student Andrew McKergow. “It’s also ambitious in that there is no perfect character. No one is 100 per cent good. It makes it more interesting to try to portray that.”
McKergow, for instance, plays John Willard, who undergoes immense internal conflicts as he is forced to arrest friends and neighbours accused of witchcraft.
“He’s a deputy constable. He ends up hanging people, but he doesn’t like it,” McKergow said.
Grade 11 student Jackson Turner plays the role of John Proctor and was drawn to the role because of the sheer number of lines it involves — more than 400. “Last year I had some smaller roles. This year I wanted to step it up,” said Turner. “Some of John Proctor’s lines are very powerful. I wanted to get to say those in the play.”
Grade 12 student Jules Turtle plays Elizabeth Proctor. Elizabeth “has a rare ability to speak the truth. She’s kind of a rock through the play; I was fascinated by that,” said Turtle.
The set and costumes this year may not be as zany and colourful as in year’s past, but are top-notch and as vividly realistic as possible.
Lawrence has delved into archives and done a lot of historical research to make sure each prop, each piece of furniture, and every stitch of clothing is historically accurate. Some lines from the play are actually taken word-for-word from old church records. The DTSS textile class has helped out too, making or adjusting bonnets, dresses and other items.
No detail is too small to go without historical scrutiny and, as it turns out, “finding out what cups looked like during that time period has actually been the hardest thing to sort out,” explained Lawrence.
The class chose The Crucible in early March and has been working on it ever since.
“So much work has gone into this. So many hours,” said Turtle.
The production includes a cast of 22 students in Grade 10 through 12, as well as student art director, a student historical researcher and prop set designer, a student stage manager, and a student lights and sound manager.
Theatre class teacher Shelley Little outlined that producing a tragedy (instead of the past comedies) places different demands on the actors and noted that with a run time of two hours The Crucible is one of the longest plays the theatre class has ever tackled.
“It’s been a great learning experience for the students, not just the demands of a serious play, but also learning about the dark history of the Salem witch hunt, and the echoes of other times in human history when a climate of fear led people to hysteria, abuse of power, and injustice. They’re seeing a lot of parallels to other things,” said Little.
The class will perform the play at the DTSS theatre on Friday, June 13 and Saturday, June 14. Both shows start at 7 p.m. The high school culinary class will sell snacks at intermission.
Tickets are on sale at Four Points Books and Stolen Church, and cost $12 for adults and $7 for students.
