The CrucibleTheatre Banshee at The Banshee
Reviewed by
Les Spindle
March 30, 2011
Most fascinating about Miller's timelessly resonant play is the moral confusion surrounding even its more admirable Puritan-era characters, heightening the irony. Director Sean Branney's revival shimmers with intelligence, rich atmospherics, and telling insight into the terrifyingly dark sides of human nature. When teenager Abigail Williams (Sarah van der Pol) is rebuffed by married man John Proctor (Shawn Savage) following their brief affair, she capitalizes on the community's paranoia about witchcraft to intimidate Proctor's wife, Elizabeth (Karen Zumsteg), and possibly even implicate her in trumped-up charges. As the number of innocent citizens convicted of the supposed crime grows under the ruthless rulings of two fanatic officials, Judge Hathorne (Donald Agnelli) and Deputy-Governor Danforth (Andrew Graves), Proctor finds himself accused of consorting with the devil. He must confess to a crime he didn't commit and ruin his name, or face execution. Leading a cast filled with memorable portrayals, Savage offers a bravura characterization as the imperfect but scarcely irredeemable Proctor. The actor's climactic scenes are profoundly moving. Doing a marvelous job of showing the wheels turning in Abigail's devious mind, van der Pol is divinely despicable. Agnelli and Graves also warrant hisses as the power-hungry zealots who conduct the kangaroo-court hearings, as does Matt Foyer as a self-serving weasel, the Rev. Samuel Parris. Zumsteg invests the role of valiant Elizabeth with dignity and grace. Superb support comes from the entire ensemble, particularly Kevin Stidham as the conscionable Rev. Hale, Vivian Kerr as a morally conflicted youth, and Barry Lynch as the beleaguered husband of an accused "witch." Sets (Arthur MacBride), costumes (Laura Brody), lighting (R. Christopher Stokes), and original music (Erik Hockman) imbue the production with a marvelously authentic sense of colonial America. Presented by Theatre Banshee at The Banshee, 3435 W. Magnolia Blvd., Burbank. Mar. 26–May 15. Fri.–Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun., 2 p.m. (818) 846-5323. www.theatrebanshee.org. |
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