John Catron, Raye Birk, Michelle O'Neil, and Erik Heger

Miller wrote The Crucible amid the Red-baiting mania of the early 1950s led by Senator Joe McCarthy. The House Un-American Activities Committee hearings, and blacklisting of those who showed even a wisp of sympathy toward or glancing acquaintance with Communists or Socialists, has often been termed a witch hunt. The Crucible takes us back to America's first witch hunt, the Salem trials of 1692. On flimsy evidence, hearsay, and superstition, woman were found guilty of witchcraft by a court that functioned as a blend of English law and Puritan religion. The Puritans had left England seeking the freedom to practice their own religion, but they certainly did not separate their church from their state.

In Miller's account, a cluster of adolescent girls are taken by the exotic music and sensuous dancing of Tituba, a slave brought to Massachusetts from Barbados by Reverend Samuel Parris when he moved from the Caribbean to serve as pastor of Salem's church. When Reverend Parris comes upon the girls' frenetic dance in the woods one night, he is sure that witchcraft is at work, and that the guilty must be purged from their pious community. Parris' niece Abigail Williams seizes this opportunity for her own ends. She had been employed by John and Elizabeth Proctor as a housemaid, and during Elizabeth's extended illness following her most recent pregnancy, John had allowed a dalliance with the girl. Discovering this, Elizabeth discharges Abigail and, bearing a sniff of scandal, no one else in Salem will hire her. Meanwhile, Abigail remains obsessively in love with John. She is a natural leader among the village girls, and they follow her lead, working themselves into seizure-like exhibitions, with such a frenzy that the very atmosphere surrounding the girls feeds their outbreaks, so that they themselves are not sure what is real and what is pretend.

Parris sends for the notable Reverend John Hale to investigate the goings on. Hale arrives convinced of the credible threat posed by witchcraft, but as the proceedings unravel, he begins to doubt. Pushing forward, Parris calls on Deputy Governor Danforth to prosecute charges of witchcraft against all who are named, starting with Tituba and local near-do-wells, then on to more respectable, even revered, members of the community, and eventually to Elizabeth Proctor.

How the trials proceed, how the girls unwittingly conspire against those who have nurtured their community, how John Proctor wrestles with the Hobson's choice he faces—admit to witchcraft or be hanged for contempt—and the true nature of goodness ... all this is played out with Miller's literate dialogue always true to his characters, and their actions galvanizing our attention, drawing us to hear every world and observe every gesture. Dowling's direction moves this long work past us at breathless speed, yet makes sure that the meaning of every fragment and shard is clearly seen.

The acting is flawless throughout. Erik Heger makes a striking impression as heroic John Proctor, unflinching in his adherence to doing what is right, while clouded by doubts over what the right thing is. As Elizabeth Proctor, Michelle O'Neil is a paragon of virtue, holding steadfastly to what is right even as it tears her life apart. Chloe Armao is totally convincing as Abigail Williams, charred by untenable passions, exuding the charisma to draw the other girls unwittingly into her web.

John Catron is particularly moving as Reverend Hale, revealing how cracks appear in the armor of his certainty, and recognizing that goodness may lie more in mercy than in judgement. Ashley Rose Montondo is heartbreaking as Mary Warren, one of the girls in Abigail's thrall, who seeing the truth beyond them, agonizes over her course of action. As Reverend Parris, Bill McCallum is the face of vengeance masquerading as virtue, of prejudice mistaken for knowledge. The indefatigable Greta Oglesby—last seen an actual witch in Into the Woods—excels in the small but key role of Tituba, whose ways, so natural to her, innocently infect Salem with madness. I could go on commending each and every member of this large and stellar cast, for there is not a weak link.

Richard Hoover created a wondrous setting of dark tree trunks descending from the ceiling over the Wurtle's thrust stage, the trees rising ever higher to reveal the action below. At the rear is a forested backdrop painted in the dense Hudson River style. Mark McCullough has designed a bright lighting scheme that places the misguided characters into the light of truth. Broadway stalwart Jane Greenwood's costumes provide an authentic sense of piety and class distinctions of 17th century Puritan life, yet remain eye-catching. Scott Edwards gives us a masterful sound design, enabling every word to be clearly heard, with sounds of nature providing an aural landscape that contrasts with the harsh words spoken by humans.

The Crucible is timeless as a mystery, a legal thriller, and a story of doomed love. In 1953 it was most timely as a not very subtle mirror of the hysteria wrought by McCarthyism. Is it timely yet today? One only need read a newspaper to affirm that there continues to be strife between those who adhere to faith and those who adhere to science. We are challenged by those who believe their world view is innately superior to all others and by those who justify their privilege as the result of moral superiority. I would look forward to a day when The Crucible is merely a cracker-jack play, and no longer a commentary on the conflicts of our times. For now, it remains both a timeless and timely great play, being given a luminous production. This is one to not miss.

The Crucible continues at the Guthrie Theater's Wurtele Thrust Stage through May 24, 2015. 618 South 2nd Street, Minneapolis, MN, 55115. Tickets from $14.50 -$72.00. Seniors (62+), Students (with ID), and Children's discounts available. For tickets call 612-377-2224 or go to GuthrieTheater.org.

Writer: Arthur Miller; Director: Joe Dowling; Set Design: Richard Hoover; Costume Design: Jane Greenwood; Lighting Design: Mark McCullough; Sound Design: Scott W. Edwards; Dramaturg: Jo Holcomb; Voice and Dialect Coach: D'Arcy Smith; Movement: Carl Flink; Stage Manager: Jason Clusman; Assistant Stage Manager: Justin Hossle; Assistant Director: Amy Rummenie; Casting Consultant: McCorkle Casting, LTD; Design Assistants: Lisa Jones (costumes), Ryan Connealy (lighting), Intern: Amy Abrigo (directing).

Cast: Chloe Armao (Abigail Williams), Christian Bardin (Susanna Wallcott), Raye Birk (Francis Nurse), Jennifer Blagen (Sarah Good), Michael Booth (Judge Hawthorne), Brooke Bowman (Mercy Lewis), Virginia S. Burke (Mrs. Ann Putnam), Chris Carlson (Hopkins), John Catron (Reverend John Hale), Bob Davis (Thomas Putnam), Tyson Forbes (Marshall Herrick), Nathaniel Fuller (Ezekiel Cheever), Peter Michael Goetz (Giles Corey), Melissa Hart (voice of Martha Corey), Erik Heger (John Proctor), Wendy Lehr (Rebecca Nurse), Rebecca Leiner (Betty Parris), Bill McCallum (Reverend Samuel Parris), Ashley Rose Montondo (Mary Warren), Greta Oglesby (Tituba), Michelle O'Neil (Elizabeth Proctor), Stephen Yoakam (Deputy Governor Danforth).

Photo: T Charles Erickson

- Arthur Dorman

Also see the season schedule for the Minneapolis - St. Paul region