Poor Arthur Miller hasn't been served particularly well by being made part of the standard high school English curriculum. Although often used for the triple purpose of teaching about 20th-century drama, the Salem witch trials, and McCarthyism, The Crucible is no mere history lesson. As the Schoolhouse Theatre's intense new production shows, it's also a dramatically taut, emotionally wrenching humdinger.
Director Pamela Moller Kareman gracefully orchestrates the sizable cast and, importantly, lavishes as much attention on the small roles as she does on the larger, showier ones. In fact, it's the supporting cast that shines most brightly in the first half: John Tyrrell seems born to the role of the eccentric, martyred Giles Corey, and Terry Ashe-Croft brings remarkable naturalism to the tiny role of Rebecca Nurse. The leads -- Simon MacLean as the tortured John Proctor and Sherry Stregack as the conniving seductress Abigail Williams -- seem a little too soft at first, not quite feral enough in their passions. But as the accusations fly and the social cohesion of Salem unravels, MacLean brings Proctor's mixture of guilt and righteous anger to robust life, while Stregack's face hardens into a cold, malevolent mask that could turn the unwary viewer into stone.
Originally produced in 1953, the play's metaphorical attack on Joseph McCarthy was lost on no one, but there is some danger in emphasizing that particular historical connection. By consigning The Crucible safely to the postwar period, we can forget that Miller was showing up superstition, gullibility, smug authority, and contagious irrationality wherever and whenever they appear. If anything, the play's message seems even more applicable to the whole recovered memory-child molestation-satanic ritual abuse hoo-hah that erupted in the '80s and '90s. Let's hope Miller's play is still around for whatever hobgoblins the 21st century may cough up, and that it will be performed with the same conviction the Schoolhouse Theatre demonstrates here.
Presented by the Schoolhouse Theater in association with Mare Nostrum Elements at the ArcLight Theatre, 152 W. 71st St., NYC. Feb. 6-March 2. Thu.-Sat., 7:30 p.m.; Wed. and Sun., 2 p.m. (Additional performance Wed., Feb. 27, 7:30 p.m.) (212) 352-3101 or (866) 811-4111 or www.theatermania.com.