Pitlochry Festival Theatre the Crucible Education Pack

Home , Abigail Williams, Bridget Bishop, Mercy Lewis, William Griggs

Pitlochry Festival Theatre

The Crucible

Education Pack

Cast:

Hathorne: David Rankine Reverend Parris: Ali Watt Francis Nurse: Matthew Tomlinson Reverend Hale: Marc Small Giles Corey: Alexander Bean Cheever: Luke Thornton John Proctor: Harry Long Thomas Putnam: Richard Colvin Betty Parris: Wendy Paver Tituba / Mercy Lewis: Alicia McKenzie Abigail Williams: Fiona Wood Ann Putnam / Martha Corey: Emilie Patry Mary Warren / Rebecca Nurse: Barbara Hockaday Elizabeth Proctor: Claire Dargo Herrick: Tilly-Mae Millbrook Susanna: Lynwen Haf Roberts Danforth: Deirdre Davis

DIRECTOR: ASSOCIATE / MOVEMENT Elizabeth Newman DIRECTOR: Lesley Hutchison SET & COSTUME DESIGNER: Adrian Rees STAGE MANAGER: Kate Schofield LIGHTING DESIGNER: Johanna Town DEPUTY STAGE MANAGER (BOOK): MD / SOUND DESIGNER: Marianne Forde, Owen Thomas Ben Occhipinti ASSISTANT STAGE FIGHT DIRECTOR MANAGER: Carter Ferguson Annie Winton

Contents

P 4: The Story: From our Relaxed Performance Pack

P 6: Detailed Synopsis and images from Pitlochry Festival Theatre’s production

P 10: Buzz Facts

P 11: Key Facts Extended Information

P 17: Character Spotlights

P 19: Things to Do

P 20: Historical Context

P 24: Chronology of Arthur Miller’s plays

P 25: A Note from Mark Brown: The Herald on Sunday and Daily Telegraph theatre critic

The Story

Pitlochry Festival Theatre has done relaxed performances this season. The synopsis of the production from our Relaxed Performance information pack is included here.

Part One

We are in a place like Pitlochry, called Salem, a tight-knit village where everyone knows everyone else. The people make a living from working on the land. The land is very important to them. We see the young girls of the village dancing and singing wildly in the woods. Betty comes forward and collapses into bed. Her father, Revered Parris has caught them dancing in the woods. The village thinks this isn’t right: that it is against God and shows friendship with the devil. Betty won’t wake up. Reverend Parris explains a crowd has gathered at his house. They have heard rumours of witchcraft and are scared. Reverend Hale is called to look at Betty. He is experienced in helping people believed to be involved with the devil.

Another couple, the Putnams, come in. Their daughter is also poorly and they can’t wake her up. They are afraid it is because she has the devil in her. Reverend Parris asks Abigail, his niece, what they were doing in the woods. Abigail says they weren’t doing anything wrong, just dancing. Parris goes to calm the crowd. Abigail tells the other girls not to admit to anything but dancing. She is very firm with them. Abigail and John Proctor talk alone. They had an affair when Abigail was working at the Proctors’ house. Because of this, John’s wife, Elizabeth, sent her away from the house and her job. John ended the affair but Abigail still wants John and refuses to believe he doesn’t want her too.

Betty wakes. Reverend Hale arrives and examines her. Abigail blames Tituba, Reverend Parris’ Barbadian slave girl, for the dancing in the woods and says she made them drink blood. Reverend Hale calls Tituba and asks her questions. She gets very upset. Tituba admits to calling up the devil but says other village people have done same and are involved in witchcraft. Abigail joins in accusing other people and then Betty joins in too. Everyone is shocked.

Later John and Elizabeth are talking about the trials that are taking place because of Tituba, Abigail and Betty’s accusations. Elizabeth asks John to tell the court that Abigail is lying. Mary Warren, their servant, comes to tell them Elizabeth has now been accused of witchcraft too. John is very angry with Mary. He had told her not to go to the village and he is frightened for his wife. Reverend Hale and other villagers come to the Proctors’ house to tell them of other good people who have been arrested. Officers of the court arrive to arrest Elizabeth. They take her away. John tells Mary she has to tell the truth about what happened in the woods, and that it has nothing to do with witchcraft.

Interval

Part Two

John and Mary go to court so she can tell Judge Danforth that the other girls are lying. The judge tells John that Elizabeth is pregnant. The rest of the girls are brought in and, to stop Mary telling the truth about them, they accuse her of bewitching them. John is very angry and tells everybody about his affair with Abigail. He says that Abigail is jealous he has stayed with his wife and that’s why she is telling these lies, to hurt Elizabeth. Judge Danforth tries to find out the truth. Danforth brings Elizabeth into the court and asks if her husband was unfaithful with Abigail. To protect John’s reputation, Elizabeth lies and says there was no affair. Judge Danforth believes John to be the liar. Mary is frightened of being arrested and condemned to death if the girls carry on lying about her. So, she accuses John of being involved in witchcraft. John is arrested.

Time has passed. The witch trials are scaring people and causing trouble in other towns. Lots of people have been accused and hanged for being accused of witchcraft and dealing with the devil. Everyone is frightened and sad. Abigail has stolen Reverend Parris’ money and run away. The people who have been accused have been told, if they confess, they won’t be put to death. Reverend Hale no longer believes all the people accused are witches, but is begging people to confess to save their lives. They are refusing to admit to something they haven’t done.

Danforth wants to uphold the law to keep order, and not to look weak. As John Proctor is well-known and respected, Danforth believes if he will confess, it will encourage others to do the same and hopefully draw the scandal to a close. Danforth asks Elizabeth to talk John into confessing. John doesn’t want to confess to something he hasn’t done, but wants to live, especially to see their child Elizabeth is carrying. He says he will confess, but will not accuse anyone else. When the court insists that he confesses in public, Proctor grows angry, and changes his mind. He will not damage his name, and his reputation. Proctor is hanged along with Rebecca Nurse.

SYNOPSIS

This is a more detailed synopsis of the play with images of Pitlochry Festival Theatre’s production. Act One

The house of Reverend Parris.

Parris prays as his daughter, Betty, lies catatonic on her bed. Tituba, his slave, enters and is told to leave immediately by an enraged Parris. Parris’ niece and Betty’s cousin, Abigail Williams enters. She lives with her uncle after being discharged from the service of John Proctor for unknown reasons. It is revealed that the previous night Abigail, Betty and a number of the girls from the village had taken part in a ritual in the forest led by Tituba. Accusations of witchcraft are now rife within the village and it is believed that Betty has been struck down by “unnatural causes”.

Ann and Thomas Putnam come to visit, having heard of Betty’s condition and reveal that their daughter Ruth – another of the local girls who took part in Tituba’s ritual – has been struck down by the same unexplained affliction. The Putnams sent Ruth to Tituba to contact her dead siblings, believing their other children to have been murdered by an unknown evil witch residing in the village. When the Putnams and Parris leave the room, other girls who took part in the ritual come to visit Abigail, who threatens them when they say they want to tell the truth about what they did. John Proctor then enters and sends away many of the girls, leaving him alone with Abigail and the unconscious Betty.

Through the conversation between Proctor and Abigail, we learn that the two of them had an affair while she was in his service, and that she still attempts to seduce him even though he says it’s in the past. As more of the townspeople come to see Betty for themselves, tensions rise over land ownership and old feuds are quickly reignited.

Reverend Hale, a witchcraft expert of nearby town Beverly, arrives to investigate the claims of witchcraft and Abigail, in a panic at being questioned, names Tituba a conjurer of the Devil. Knowing her word will never stand up against Abigail’s insistence and in an attempt to curb her punishment, Tituba confesses and names other townspeople witches along with her, sparking a chain of further accusations from Abigail and Betty.

Act Two

The house of John Proctor.

Proctor and his wife Elizabeth are alone. Proctor’s affair with Abigail has had a profound effect on their relationship – he is tentative with his wife, trying to keep her happy, while Elizabeth is mistrusting and ultimately confrontational when she learns Proctor was alone with Abigail at Parris’ house.

Mary Warren, the Proctors’ servant, comes home from a day at court, giving Elizabeth a poppet that she made in court as a ‘gift’. Angry that she has defied his orders to not leave the house and her continued efforts to undermine him, Proctor goes to whip her. She avoids it by recounting what happened in the courtroom and saying that she had saved Elizabeth’s life after she was mentioned in the court. Showing how much power she has as a witness, Mary says she will no longer be ordered around. Panicked by what Mary has said, Elizabeth quickly catches on to the fact that Abigail was the one to mention her and begs Proctor to go to Abigail and reason with her.

Reverend Hale interrupts them. He is investigating people in the town and carries the suspicions of Elizabeth mentioned in court. While he questions them, Giles Corey and Francis Nurse enter and say their wives have been arrested. They are joined by Ezekiel Cheever and Marshall Herrick who have come to arrest Elizabeth, formally accused by Abigail. They question her on the presence of poppets in the house, and when the poppet from Mary is discovered, they arrest her.

Act Three

The Meeting House.

As Martha Corey is tried, her husband Giles Corey objects, saying that he has evidence in her defence. Corey and Francis Nurse bring Proctor and Mary in front of Judges Danforth and Hathorne, so that Mary can give evidence against the other girls. However, Danforth believes that it is Proctor’s intent to undermine the court and interrogates him, revealing that Elizabeth is pregnant and would be spared to live out her pregnancy if Proctor goes no further with his objections. Proctor says he cannot agree to the terms and along with Corey and Francis, gives testimony – a signed petition in support of Elizabeth, Martha and Rebecca from 91 townspeople.Danforth dismisses the petition, and gives the order to hold all 91 signatories for questioning.

When Corey tells Danforth that Thomas Putnam orchestrated his daughter’s accusations, Danforth holds him in contempt of court for refusing to say how he learned the information. Reverend Hale begins to see through the corruption of the court and begs Danforth to consider Mary’s new deposition. Realising that one way or another he is being lied to and his authority undermined, Danforth calls for the other girls.

Under pressure from Danforth, Parris and Hathorne, Abigail once again claims she is being attacked by spirits forcing Proctor to admit the truth about their affair. Wishing for confirmation, Danforth sends for Elizabeth who Proctor assures her cannot lie. She does lie to protect Proctor’ reputation however, and in response the girls begin to scream that they are being attacked again. Scared, Mary joins them once more, saying Proctor is the Devil’s man. The scene closes with Proctor and Corey being arrested and Hale quitting the court.

Act Four

The Salem Jail.

On the day of Proctor’s and Rebecca’s execution, Hale begs Rebecca, Martha Corey and others to confess to the crimes they are accused of in order to save their lives. Parris admits to Danforth and Hathorne that Abigail and Mercy Lewis – another of the accusers – have robbed him and left the country, and that since the excommunication of Proctor, attempts have been made on his life. Despite this news and the new lack of faith in the courts, Danforth refuses to postpone the executions. In an attempt to get a confession out of Proctor and subsequently quiet the dissension within the town, they send for Elizabeth and ask her to speak with him.

Once together, they speak of Corey’s execution and how he stood by his innocence. Proctor asks Elizabeth for forgiveness, but she says he only has to forgive himself. He confesses to Danforth and Hathorne in an attempt to save his life, but after being urged to implicate others, he cannot bring himself to sign the written confession and rips it up in front of them. As he is led away to be hanged, Parris and Hale plead with Elizabeth that she change his mind. In her devastation, she accepts that he refuses to lie and accepts him as a good man.

The Crucible – Buzz Facts:

Notes from Assistant Director on The Crucible, Eilidh Gibson. These notes were used by the production team in the rehearsal room.

 Approximately 110,000 people were tried for witchcraft in Europe, with between 40,000 and 60,000 being executed.  British people first landed in North America in 1607 and established the first British colony in the ‘New World’ and named it Jamestown.  In order to survive the colony traded metal tools with the Native American people in exchange for food.  The Jamestown colony bought the first 20 slaves in North America from Angola in order for them to work the land.  In May 1625 the British claimed the island of Barbados.  In 1689 Salem Village established its own church separate from Salem Town and appointed Samuel Parris as their minister.  The church was Puritan and held orthodox views, specifically surrounding salvation – In order to be purified one must have an in-depth understanding of the bible, the word of God.  The infamous Salem witch trials took place in Salem Village, Massachusetts.  The witch hunts of Salem Village were initiated when three young girls (Betty Parris, Abigail Williams and Ann Putnam) began to have unexplainable fits and thus the conclusion was drawn that they must have been bewitched.  In order to establish who had bewitched them, the girls were harshly interrogated until they gave the name of the enslaved woman Tituba – a domino effect was pushed into motion with each person accused giving even more names out of fear.  Over 200 people were accused of witchcraft in Salem Village between 1692 and 1693.  Within the trials, spectral evidence was the main source of witness testimony (dreams and visions believed to have been shown to someone through supernatural means).  Approximately 20 people were executed for the crime of witchcraft, 1 man - Giles Corey - was tortured to death, and 5 others died in prison.  The first to be convicted of witchcraft in Salem was Bridget Bishop, she was subsequently hanged in June 1692.  The last executions in Salem took place on the 22nd September 1692.  In October 1692 Governor Phips deemed spectral evidence as inadmissible, and those imprisoned upon the grounds of spectral evidence were pardoned.

The Crucible – Key Facts Extended Information:

The information below provides more detailed information surrounding the buzz facts that Eilidh collated as well as further contextual research that had been discussed in the rehearsal room.

Most of the information below is paraphrased from articles that have been researched – when italicised it is a direct quote and links to all the websites that information has been drawn from are included.

The Jamestown Colony:  The Jamestown Colony was the first permanent British settlement in North America. It was established on May 14th 1607, and it was located in what is known today as Williamsburg, Virginia. (https://www.britannica.com/place/Jamestown-Colony )  The Colonist established a relationship with the Native Americans, creating a mutually beneficial trading system with the British people. The Native American tribes traded food for metal tools. They developed a stable relationship, with the Native people often generously gifting food to the colonists. However, if a colonist strayed from their designated land they would be killed by the Natives. (https://www.britannica.com/place/Jamestown-Colony )  As the colonists began to develop sustainable living conditions they saw the need for more help working the land and so the first African slaves were shipped to the colony of Jamestown. When they arrived on the shores of Virginia 20 (known as the ’20 and odd’) were sold to the people of Jamestown to perform manual labour. (https://www.britannica.com/place/Jamestown-Colony )

Slavery:  The Africans who came to Virginia in 1619 had been taken from Angola in West Central Africa. They were put on board the San Juan Bautista, which carried 350 captives bound for Vera Cruz, on the coast of Mexico. the slave ship was attacked by two English privateers, the White Lion and the Treasurer, in the Gulf of Mexico and robbed of 50-60 Africans. (https://historicjamestowne.org/history/the-first-africans/)  Not much is known about the captive Africans. It has been speculated by many that they were part of a prize for a slave trader heading to the Spanish West Indies. (https://newsone.com/2031761/african-slaves-jamestown/ )

The Mayflower:  The Mayflower set sail on 16th September 1620 from Plymouth, UK, to voyage to America, known at the time as the New World. Its passengers were in search of a new life of religious freedom. The group, who would go on to be known as the Pilgrims, wanted to start a new way of life free of the Church of England's doctrine.(https://www.mayflower400uk.org/education/the-mayflower-story/ )  Approximately 40 of the 102 passengers upon the mayflower were Protestant Separatists – they called themselves ‘Saints’ – who hoped to establish a new church in the New World. (https://www.history.com/topics/colonial-america/mayflower )

 The journey from Plymouth to the New World took around 2 months, and when they landed upon the shore of North America they discovered an abandoned Native American village, causing them to realise that they had in fact landed in the wrong place and thus technically did not have a right to be there. (https://www.history.com/topics/colonial-america/mayflower )  In order to establish themselves as a legitimate colony (“Plymouth,” named after the English port from which they had departed) under these dubious circumstances, 41 of the Saints and Strangers drafted and signed a document they called the Mayflower Compact. This Compact promised to create a “civil Body Politick” governed by elected officials and “just and equal laws.” It also swore allegiance to the English king. (https://www.history.com/topics/colonial-america/mayflower )

Barbadians:  The Caribbean island of Barbados was first discovered by the Portuguese, however, was soon invaded by the Spanish who enslaves and wiped out the native Carib Indians, before abandoning the island. The island was then claimed by the British in May 1625. (http://bcw-project.org/military/third-civil-war/barbados )  The island was then further populated by slaves brought to the island from various tribes out of the forest region of West Africa, during village raids. They were shipped to the island in slave ships and then traded for trinkets to plantation owners. (http://www.funbarbados.com/ourisland/history/slavery.cfm )  In 1636, officials passed a law declaring all slaves brought into Barbados, whether African or Amerindian were to be enslaved for life. It was later extended to include their offspring. (http://www.funbarbados.com/ourisland/history/slavery.cfm )

Native Americans:  The pre-Columbian population of North America is widely disputed, and the approximations range from 900,000 and 18,000,000. (https://www.britannica.com/topic/Native-American/Native-American-history )  European colonialism was driven by a social climate of imminent war, religious intolerance, deprivation of the working people and inflation. The British motivation for colonisation was primarily territorial expansion. (https://www.britannica.com/topic/Native-American/Native-American-history )  The monarch (James I) also made land grants to religious dissidents, most notably to the Puritan shareholders of the Massachusetts Bay Company. (https://www.britannica.com/topic/Native-American/Native-American-history )  The association between Native Americans and Satan can even be glimpsed in land transactions. In deeds, the English used nicknames they had given to the Indians.

Names like Robin Hood, Little John, and Jack Pudding (a rustic buffoon or clown) are clear allusions to English carnival culture. They reflect an English sense of superiority, but also perhaps a slight playfulness, or sense of humor. Several nicknames, however, suggests a darker connotation. "Black Will," the sachem of Nahant reinforced the image of the devil as "black man." (http://www.hawthorneinsalem.org/Literature/NativeAmericans&Blacks/HannahDu ston/MMD2137.html )

Puritans:  Puritanism was a religious movement that occurred in the late 16th and 17th centuries and sought to purify the Church of England of the remains of the Roman Catholic popery. (https://www.britannica.com/topic/Puritanism ) - (Popery - The doctrines, practices, and ceremonies associated with the Pope or the papal system; Roman Catholicism. https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/popery )  Puritans believed that it was necessary to be in a covenant relationship with God in order to be redeemed from one’s sinful condition, that God had chosen to reveal salvation through preaching, and that the Holy Spirit was the energizing instrument of salvation. (https://www.britannica.com/topic/Puritanism )

Puritan Hierarchy:  Religious hierarchy was very important, with the minister at the top and the church elders below him, followed by the church members; at the bottom were the non- church members. By law everyone had to pay taxes to support the minister, attend church regularly, and conform to Puritan practices and precepts. (https://www.encyclopedia.com/history/modern-europe/british-and-irish- history/puritans )  A few men were selected as pillars (of society) because of their probable conversion and virtuous conduct. Puritans adopted the practice of admitting to church membership only those who could convince the pillars and the rest of the congregation that they had been saved. The minister was the key in any church. He had to be a highly educated person so that he could provide the most accurate explanation of the Bible and how it related to all aspects of life. Humans could only be saved by hearing and understanding the word of God. (https://www.encyclopedia.com/history/modern-europe/british-and-irish- history/puritans )

Salem:  The Salem witch trials occurred in colonial Massachusetts between 1692 and 1693. More than 200 people were accused of practicing witchcraft—the Devil's magic—and 20 were executed. Eventually, the colony admitted the trials were a mistake and compensated the families of those convicted. (https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/a-brief-history-of-the-salem-witch- trials-175162489/ )  A group of young girls in Salem Village, Massachusetts, claimed to be possessed by the devil and accused several local women of witchcraft. As a wave of hysteria spread throughout colonial Massachusetts, a special court convened in Salem to hear

the cases; the first convicted witch, Bridget Bishop, was hanged that June. (https://www.history.com/topics/colonial-america/salem-witch-trials )

Salem Village:  Many people in Salem like to point out that the witch episode really began in Salem Village, or modern-day Danvers. (http://www.firstchurchinsalem.org/the-long- history/ )  Salem Village was a fast-growing farming area on the northern edge of Salem Town. The town was a prosperous port engaged in commerce, fishing, shipbuilding, and other activities associated with a trading and urban area. The village, roughly five to seven miles from the town's meeting house, constituted, in effect, a parish or ward of the town, and served as its agricultural hinterland. (https://www.tulane.edu/~salem/Salem%20and%20Village.html )  Following the pattern common to other New England communities, as the village grew, it began to develop a distinctive identity and separate interests from the town. Most significantly, by the 1670s, the farmers requested their own church due to their distance from the town. (https://www.tulane.edu/~salem/Salem%20and%20Village.html )  In 1689 the villagers won the right to establish their own church. They chose Reverend Samuel Parris, a former merchant, as their minister. His rigid ways and demands for compensation—including personal title to the village parsonage— increased the friction. Many villagers vowed to drive Parris out, and they stopped contributing to his salary in October 1691. (https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2017/05/salem-witch-hunt-trump-tweet/ )

Witch Hunting:  The events in Salem in 1692 were but one chapter in a long story of witch hunts that began in Europe between 1300 and 1330 and ended in the late 18th century (with the last known execution for witchcraft taking place in Switzerland in 1782). The Salem trials occurred late in the sequence, after the abatement of the European witch-hunt fervour, which peaked from the 1580s and ’90s to the 1630s and ’40s. The number of trials and executions varied according to time and place, but it is generally believed that some 110,000 persons in total were tried for witchcraft and between 40,000 to 60,000 were executed. (https://www.britannica.com/event/Salem-witch- trials )

The Witches of Salem Village:  In February 1692 Betty Parris, Abigail Williams and Ann Putnam all began to have ‘fits’ that could not be explained. Doctors and ministers observed the girls contorted themselves, cowered under chairs, and shouted nonsense. As knowledge of biology, medicine and psychology was rudimentary they concluded that the only explanation was that the girls had be bewitched. (https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2017/05/salem-witch-hunt-trump-tweet/ )  They bullied the children until they began pointing figures at misfit women around them. Tituba was named as a witch, as was a dishevelled beggar named Sarah Good and the elderly Sarah Osburn. (https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2017/05/salem-witch-hunt-trump-tweet/ )

 Tituba was beaten until she began to confess and also started to expose other so- called witches in the village. Tituba also claimed that these witches sought the destruction of Puritans. This sent the people of the village into a sort of witch-finding hysteria. (https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2017/05/salem-witch-hunt-trump- tweet/ )  As investigators went door to door, terrified residents pointed their fingers at still more supposed witches. Bizarre testimony and hearsay piled up. The accused were tortured and made to stand trial in hasty proceedings before a special court set up for the purpose. Defendant Giles Cory was tortured to death while refusing to enter a plea at his trial. Five others, including an infant, died in prison. (https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2017/05/salem-witch-hunt-trump-tweet/ )

1692 Salem Village Legal System:  Between 1692 and 1693 more than 200 people had been accused of witchcraft by the government in colonial Massachusetts, and 20 were executed for this ‘crime’. (https://connorreporting.com/salem-witch-trials-legal-system-fails/ )  Probably the most striking difference between the witch trials and modern legal proceedings is that the court accepted spectral evidence; in fact, most of the evidence against the accused was spectral. Spectral evidence is evidence based upon dreams and visions of the spiritual realm. The Puritans of the time believed that physical realities had spiritual causes. (https://connorreporting.com/salem-witch-trials-legal- system-fails/ )  In March 1692 the accused were brought before the magistrates John Hathorne and Johnathan Corwin. Hathorne and Corwin interrogated those accused and relied upon spectral evidence heavily. Often Hathorne and Corwin would pressure alleged witches into confessing and also naming other alleged witches. (https://connorreporting.com/salem-witch-trials-legal-system-fails/ )

The End of The Salem Witch Trials:  On October 3rd, 1692, the Reverend Increase Mather, president of Harvard College and father of famed preacher Cotton Mather, denounced the use of flimsy evidence and reliance on unprovable supernatural claims. (https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2017/05/salem-witch-hunt-trump-tweet/ )  Governor William Phips grew disgusted when his own wife was eventually mentioned by the afflicted girls. Determined to quell the madness, he suspended the special court and replaced it with a new Superior Court of Judicature—which disallowed so- called spectral evidence. That court condemned only 3 of 56 defendants. Phips pardoned them along with five others awaiting execution. (https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2017/05/salem-witch-hunt-trump-tweet/ )

Scottish Witch Trials:  Approximately 6000 witch trials took place in Scotland. In relation to its population Scotland had 3 times as many witch trials as England. As was the case in other places where such trials existed, the reasons behind them were complicated but often had a root in the suppression of women at the time. (https://theculturetrip.com/europe/united-kingdom/scotland/articles/a-brief- history-of-scotlands-witch-hunts/ )

 North Berwick saw Scotland’s first mass witch trial take place in the late 16th century, at a time where a climate of fear surrounding magic had already compelled the Scottish justiciary to put into law the Witchcraft Act in 1563. (https://www.scotsman.com/lifestyle/scotland-s-most-infamous-witch-trials-1- 2594330 )

McCarthyism:  The word McCarthyism has become synonymous with the practice of publicizing accusations of treason and disloyalty with insufficient evidence. (https://www.history.com/topics/cold-war/army-mccarthy-hearings )

The McCarthy Hearings:  McCarthyism both reached its peak and began its decline during the “McCarthy hearings”: 36 days of televised investigative hearings led by McCarthy in 1954. After first calling hearings to investigate possible espionage at the Army Signal Corps Engineering Laboratories in Fort Monmouth, New Jersey, the junior senator turned his communist-chasing committee’s attention to an altogether different matter, the question of whether the Army had promoted a dentist who had refused to answer questions for the Loyalty Security Screening Board. (https://www.britannica.com/topic/McCarthyism )  The army in turn charged him with using improper influence to win preferential treatment for a former staff member, Pvt. G. David Schine. When the senator tried to emphasize army lawyer Joseph Welch’s Communist ties, Welch delivered his famous “Have you no sense of decency?” rebuke. Although McCarthy was acquitted, his popular support waned and his political career was soon over. (https://www.history.com/topics/cold-war/army-mccarthy-hearings )

Character Spotlight: John Proctor

Description: Proctor is a farmer in his mid-thirties. Before the events of the play, Proctor had an affair with Abigail Williams. The affair results in Abigail accusing his wife of witchcraft, followed by him also being accused. However, it is through his honesty and his differing beliefs from those in power that results in his execution at the end of the play. Make sure that you discuss not only the events, but the effect they have on the character.

The Real Life John Proctor. The Proctor we know from the play is a highly fictionalised version of the real John Proctor living in Salem in 1692. At the time of the witch trials Proctor would have been 60 years old – much older than the way he is portrayed in Miller’s play – and had been married 3 times. While it is true that Abigail Williams was Proctor’s main accuser at the time, it is seen as unlikely that the two of them had an affair as the real Abigail was 11 at the time of the trials. Also, as in the events of the play, Proctor’s wife Elizabeth was accused of witchcraft first and put on trial. When Proctor insisted that the accusations were false and suggested that his accusers be the real perpetrators of witchcraft, they turned their accusations upon him as well. His attempts to maintain both his and Elizabeth’s innocence were in vain and despite getting many of his neighbours to sign a petition as testament to their character, he was found guilty and executed by hanging on 19th August 1692.

Activity: The Character’s Journey. Using your knowledge of the play, write a paragraph about John Proctor’s journey through the play. You can do this for other characters too.

Character Spotlight: Elizabeth Proctor

Description: Elizabeth is John Proctor’s wife. From her first appearance she is still hurt by Proctor’s affair with Abigail, but is trying to continue with life as normal. Elizabeth is described by her husband as someone who could never tell a lie, but this becomes the downfall of both herself and Proctor when she lies to the court to protect Proctor’s reputation after he admits to his affair with Abigail.

The Real Life Elizabeth Proctor was John Proctor’s third wife. The real John Proctor of the Salem witch trials married 3 times over the course of his lifetime – 2 of his wives were called Elizabeth. We can assume that the character of Elizabeth Proctor in The Crucible is based chiefly on Proctor’s third wife, Elizabeth Proctor, nee Bassett. Elizabeth married John in 1674, two years after the death of his second wife. Elizabeth’s past had already been

17 plagued with accusations of witchcraft when her grandmother, Ann, a Quaker and midwife, was brought up on charges of witchcraft in 1669. Though the charges against her were never proven and no action was taken, the scandal followed Elizabeth and may have contributed to the hysteria which resulted in the accusations against her in 1692.

Elizabeth was first accused by Mary Warren, and later by Mercy Lewis and Abigail Williams. While the accusations against her were at first ignored, the persistence of the girls led to her arrest. She and Proctor were found guilty of the charges against them, leading to his execution. However, because Elizabeth was pregnant, her execution was postponed until after the baby was born. She gave birth to a son in January 1693, whom she named John after his father, but was never executed, instead remaining in prison with the baby until May 1693.

Activity: Character Analysis. Create a spider-diagram using 10 adjectives to describe Elizabeth Proctor. Give reasons for your choices using examples from the play.

Character Spotlight: Rebecca Nurse

Description. Rebecca Nurse is described as a white-haired, 72 year old woman who walks with a cane. Her moral upstanding and kind nature is admired and respected amongst the townspeople. She is able to soothe Betty Parris by her mere presence and speaks with a level head, guided by her strong religious beliefs. The prominence of her character within the play allows Miller to highlight just how bad the accusations became.

The Real Life Rebecca Nurse was one of the oldest accused during the witch trials. She was a well-respected member of the community and was defended by many of her fellow townspeople when the accusations were first made against her in March 1692. As depicted in the play, it is believed that the accusations were orchestrated by the Putnam family and made due to a dispute between the Nurse family and the Putnams over land ownership.

Rebecca Nurse stood trial for acts of witchcraft in June 1692 and was initially found not guilty by the jury. This resulted in an outcry from her accusers and the children who said that they had been attacked by her spectre. The court asked the jury to reconsider their verdict, directing their attention to a statement she had made in which she referred to a

18 fellow prisoner who had already been convicted as ‘one of us’. Jumping to the conclusion that by ‘us’, she meant ‘witches’, the jury convicted her and she was executed by hanging in July 1692. Things to Do

Character Activity

Using your knowledge of the play, write three facts and three lies about the characters in the boxes provided. Can you also include any lies that are said about them in the play?

Rebecca Nurse

Elizabeth Proctor

John Proctor

Directing Activity

Re-read Act One of the play. Thinking about the Pitlochry production, how might you direct a sequence before the scripted action of the play to show what had happened the night before? What sound / music / lighting would you use to inspire the action?

Design Activity

Look at the description of the stage in Act Four. Put together a mood board of images including suggestions of colour and texture, to start thinking about your own design for the set for this part of the play. Label the images with reasons for your choices.

Historical Context

The Salem Witch Trials

While some dramatic liberties were taken with the events of the Salem witch trials for the purpose of writing The Crucible, the characters of the play are real and the events accurate. The events which sparked the trials started in January of 1692, when Betty Parris and Abigail Williams – daughter and niece of Salem’s Rev. Samuel Parris – began having unexplained fits. The girls claimed that they were feeling the pain of being stabbed with needles and pinched, their condition soon being diagnosed by the local doctor, William Griggs, as the result of witchcraft.

Exactly how this conclusion was drawn is unclear and can only be speculated upon. It’s possible that since there were rumours of witchcraft circulating the surrounding towns prior to 1692, someone in the town suggested the possibility of witchcraft ailing the girls and this was blown very quickly out of proportion.

Many accounts also tell of Betty and Abigail – along with other girls in the town – practising fortune-telling. When Rev. Parris found them out, he cried ‘witch’ in an attempt to avoid the scandal of having his own family members being accused of black arts. The finger was first pointed at Tituba, a slave owned by Rev. Parris. While her native country is unknown, she was bought by Parris from a family in Barbados where it is believed that she learned various occult stories and practices from her previous mistress. Whether or not Parris knew this, is open to speculation, but when at first she denied the accusations, she was beaten by Parris until she finally confessed, also implicating Sarah Goode and Sarah Osborne.

All three women were arrested, interrogated and ultimately sent to jail for their alleged crimes of witchcraft. None of the townspeople defended them as each was seen as an outcast, and their successful indictment paved the way for the mass hysteria that followed.

DISCUSSION Why might Parris have accused Tituba? Why do you think she ultimately confessed? If you were an actor or a director working on a production of The Crucible, what decisions would you make about the character of Tituba in relation to this?

The Salem Witch Trials

Between the months of March and May 1692 accusations of witchcraft became rife. Upstanding members of the community – like Rebecca Nurse – found themselves being arrested; those who spoke out against the validity of the accusations had the finger pointed at them as a result. However, these accusations can be attributed to personal vendettas and family feuds – especially in the case of Ann Putnam, who soon joined Betty and Abigail in

20 their affliction and was said to be used by her family to make accusations against members of the community with whom they had had long-standing problems.

In June of 1692, at the height of the hysteria, the governor of Massachusetts, Sir William Phips, set up a special court in Salem to deal with the accusations, appointing lieutenant governor William Stoughton as Chief Justice to preside over the trials. Stoughton was by all accounts an unyielding man. He allowed the use of ‘spectral evidence’ in court – the testimonies given by Abigail Williams and others that the spectres (spirits) of those accused would attack – and it was on this evidence that many of those standing trial were convicted. In September, questions began to arise about the validity of spectral evidence.

These questions came initially from Cotton and Increase Mather, a father and son who were both ministers and whose opposing opinions aroused the suspicion of Sir William Phips. While Cotton was an avid believer that evil spectres could only take on the form of those who had sworn their allegiance to the Devil, his son was of the opinion that these spectres could in fact take on the form of innocent people, referring to the Bible as backup to his claims. It was this which eventually convinced Phips to rule that spectral evidence no longer be permissible in court, resulting in a stay of execution for five convicted prisoners and the court later being dissolved.

Stoughton never agreed with the decision that spectral evidence should not be permissible and some sources say that he quit the court as a result. However, he later went on to become Chief Justice in the Supreme Court of Massachusetts and, taking with him his desire to eradicate witches, continued the trials. However, he was once again overruled by Phips in the use of spectral evidence and many of those he had sentenced to death were once again reprieved. Stoughton later returned to his home country of England, where he launched a campaign against Phips’ rule. In all, 43 Salem inhabitants stood trial on charges of witchcraft, with 19 being executed.

DISCUSSION Why do you think that William Stoughton, such a prominent figure in the Salem Witch Trials, doesn’t appear as a character in Miller’s play? Why might Miller have chosen to use Danforth and Hathorne instead?

Forms of Torture to Elicit Confessions:

Sleep Deprivation

One of the oldest and simplest forms of torture, victims would be made to go for days without sleep until they were so delirious they would confess to anything. Although still used to elicit confessions, it has been more recently discovered to be unreliable as people will say almost anything just to get some sleep.

Burning at the Stake

One of the most popular methods was burning the supposed witch at the stake. If the fires of hell consumed them, then they were clearly a witch. But if they somehow lived through being set on fire, they were innocent.

Dunking

When it came to witch dunking, there were several methods employed. There was the more extensive dunking chair which involved gradually longer immersions in the water until you either confessed or drowned. Then there was the method of having your hands and feet bound and simply tossed in the water. The idea here was that if you were a witch, Satan would ensure that you would float on top of the water and survive. Once it was clear you were a witch you would then be removed from the water and properly hung. If you were not a witch, you would sink to the bottom and drown like a good Christian.

Witch’s Bridle

This device was a metal mask that was fixed to the head and which prevented the wearer from speaking. Although mostly a punishment device, it could be used to drive the wearer mad until they were ready to confess.

Pressing

Victims were laid on slab while weights were gradually added to their chest. As rib bones slowly cracked, a confession would be imminent. Unless you were particularly strong willed, like accused witch Giles Corey who, according to all historical documentation, repeatedly hollered, “More weight!” before being crushed to death.

McCarthyism -The Crucible as an Allegory

During World War II, there was a marked increase in the number of members of the Communist Party of the United States. Communist governments had already gained power in Eastern Europe and China, and the United States were becoming increasingly concerned that there may be an attempt to overthrow the government and the capitalist society which had been established.

Fuel to the fire came in the form of Joseph McCarthy, at the time a junior Senator of the state of Wisconsin. On 9th February, 1950 at a Lincoln Day celebratory lunch, McCarthy made a speech in which he said he held in his hand a list of 205 names that were known members of the Communist Party of the United States. Furthermore, McCarthy claimed that these names were known to the Secretary of State and continued to be allowed to work for the State Department. The truth of this claim still remains a mystery, since on subsequent occasions the number varied.

The media attention which followed McCarthy’s speech elevated his power levels within the Senate, a power which he used to head his own investigations into those he thought were communists or sympathisers.

Despite the fact that McCarthy’s original point was that Communists should not be allowed to work for the State Department, many of those interrogated never had. While being a Communist wasn’t illegal, McCarthy had people charged with the act of subversion. This was helped along by the contribution of the FBI’s ‘Responsibilities Program’, in which files of those with potential Communist links were handed over to McCarthy for further investigation.

Liberals and left-wing supporters were often targeted and many of those who were investigated were done so on baseless accusations for which there was no evidence. McCarthy used intimidation and threats during interrogation and while most were eventually released without charge, the damage done to their reputation was irreversible with many struggling socially and financially for the rest of their lives.

Miller has implied that he rejects the notion that The Crucible is an outright allegorical representation for the events surrounding McCarthyism, but does accept that it was influenced by it. The conclusion that the play was an allegory was drawn by those who saw the play when it was first produced and drew parallels with political proceedings at the time.

Instead, Miller states that he had the idea for The Crucible for a while before the rise of McCarthyism and that the play is about the ‘handing over of conscience’. He was inspired by the relationships between John Proctor, his wife Elizabeth, and Abigail Williams, thus making these the central focus.

Focus on the Playwright: Arthur Miller

A CHROLOGY OF MILLER’S WORKS: - https://arthurmillersociety.net/millers-works/

The Golden Years (1940) The Man Who Had All the Luck (1944) All My Sons (1947) Death of a Salesman (1949) An Enemy of the People (1950 – it was adapted from Henrick Ibsen’s original playscript En folkefiende) The Crucible (1953) A Memory of Two Mondays (1955 – a one-act play) A View from the Bridge (1956) The Missfits (1961 - screenplay) After the Fall (1964 – viewed as highly autobiographical and is criticized as capitalizing upon his relationship with Marilyn Monroe) Incident at Vichy (1964) The Price (1968) The Creation of the World and Other Business (1972) Fame (1978 - This screenplay is based on an earlier short story written by Miller of the same name.) The Archbishop’s Ceiling (1977) Playing for Time (1980) The American Clock (1980) Two Way Mirror (1982-1984: It consists of Elegy for a Lady and Some Kind of Love Story, both experimental one-acts that play with concepts of reality and perception.) Danger: Memory! (1987: it consists of I Can’t Remember Anything and Clara which as the collective title implies explores the pros and cons of memory and how we relate to the past.) The Last Yankee (1991-1993) The Ride Down Mt. Morgan (1991) Broken Glass (1994) Mr. Peters’ Connections (1998) Resurrection Blues (2002) Finishing the Picture (2004)

FICTION:

Focus – novel (1945) Jane's Blanket - children's story (1963) I Don’t Need You Anymore – stories (1967) Homely Girl, A Life - novella and stories (1992) Presence: Stories (2008 - This collection brings together six pieces that appeared in magazines toward the end of Miller’s life; all, in their ways, celebrate redemption through love.)

NON-FICTION:

Situation Normal… (1944) In Russia (1969) In the Country (1977) Chinese Encounters (1979) “Salesman” in Beijing (1984) The Theatre Essays of Arthur Miller (1978 – updated in 1996) Timebends: A Life (1987) Politics and the Art of Acting (2001)

A note from our Programme for the 2019 production of The Crucible

Exhuming McCarthy

By Mark Brown

First staged in 1953, during the “Red Scare” orchestrated by the notorious Republican senator Joseph McCarthy, Arthur Miller’s famous, tragic allegory The Crucible is, surely, a candidate for the title of Greatest American Drama. Set in the English colony of Salem, Massachusetts, the play is inspired by actual events during the frenzied, Puritan witch trials of 1692-93.

By comparing the Salem events – in which many devout Christians were hanged on the testimony of children – to the anti-Communist campaign of the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), Miller was taking a dangerous and courageous stand. McCarthy’s particular obsession with “Communist infiltration” in the American arts and entertainment industries had destroyed careers and, even, led to suicides.

Crucial to the genesis of Miller’s play was the infamous testimony given to HUAC in 1952 by Miller’s soon-to-be-former friend, the filmmaker Elia Kazan. Kazan named eight prominent actors who, like him, had been Communist sympathisers (Miller, by contrast, would be found in contempt of the committee in 1956 when he refused to name names).

Writing in The New Yorker magazine in 1996 (the year in which Nicholas Hytner’s superb film version of The Crucible was released), Miller explained the frightening and lonely political circumstances in which the play was written. “Anyone needs to feel right to declare someone else wrong”, he wrote.

In the United States of the 1950s, however, many of the people who might have been expected to take a stand against McCarthyism were silenced by their lack of confidence in their own convictions. The Communist-leaning left, wrote Miller, were compromised by the Soviet Union’s human rights abuses.

Meanwhile, the liberals were wrong-footed by the fact that the assault upon treasured freedoms in the US was being orchestrated by the very institutions of state that they cherished. Consequently, Miller wrote (with frightening prescience), “the far right... was licking up all the cream.”

It is in this context, of paralysing moral and political uncertainty, that Miller “found himself” in his play. Culpable, he wrote, in the crisis of his first marriage (to Mary Slattery), he placed another adulterer, John Proctor (a flawed hero if ever there was one), at the centre of the drama.

Proctor, a self-confessed sinner, refuses to allow Abigail Williams, the young housekeeper with whom he had an affair, to send his wife, among others, to the gallows on vengeful and concocted charges of witchcraft. In so doing (and, too little is said of this, inspired by the example of the humble, elderly woman Rebecca Nurse), he becomes one of drama’s great symbols of sacrificial resistance.

The Crucible is one of world theatre’s great works of allegory. As applicable to the human condition (and, indeed, as perfectly structured) as the finest tragedies of Ancient Greece, it has, in its 66 years, emphatically earned its place as a classical drama.

Mark Brown is theatre critic of The Herald on Sunday and the Daily Telegraph. His book Modernism and Scottish Theatre since 1969: a Revolution on Stage is published by Palgrave Macmillan.