Three hours and twenty minutes. Phew. I'd forgotten just how much of this play there is. And thursday night's full, totally uncut version brought it all screaming back to me in my plush Victorian chair.
But enough moaning, this is a great production, all the cast keeping up Bristol Old Vic's high standard. The stark, wooden set of rafters, planks, crates and one very imposing cross really brought home the Spartan existence of early American farmers. Proctor's house in particular made an impression on me, its beams jagged and refusing to meet, implying the damage John and Abigail's affair has done to his home.
I'm not going to get into too many details as to the individual performances as I know a cast member and I'm not sure I'm up to a huge list of character names and a snappy little line to match.
This was a strong ensemble performance by what felt like two casts. The 'us' and 'them' feeling runs through the play, so that you're left with the feeling that those accused are charged, not with witchcraft, but with the full stigma of poverty and lack of education. Mutual distrust backs up every accusation, and it is clear that the law is only for the educated.
This play is always linked to the McCarthy trials and I did see some parallels (a brilliant little Roy Cohn moment here and there which made me smile) but what really struck me was the battle of the actors onstage. Politics were a sideline in this production; what really mattered was the delicious, poisonous cocktail of sexuality, religion and sin. Sin hangs in the air like the smell of a locker room, insidious, pungent, infecting the air and those who breathe it. The lead characters are driven almost insane by it, and the beginning of act two implies that Abigail has given way almost completely to madness, drunk with power and bloodlust. The sin of adultery drives her and shackles him, though it did not hold back the performance, as the actor prowled and brooded and sulked across the stage like a man who knows perfectly well he is the centre of the universe.
The men come off far better than the women in this play. It's plain to see that Proctor is one of those superior human beings who draws attention and respect to him whether or not he deserves it. They are the people who become figure heads and symbols at the front of the purer but less charismatic heroes of history.
The jealousy and hatred between the women however, particularly between Elizabeth and Abigail is apparently to blame for all the bloodshed and trials, which I found rather hard to swallow. The revealing of the affair reveals Proctor as a good, misguided man and Abigail as a common whore, which I personally don't buy, and maybe had there been a little more detail and a little less shouting and what I call 'Jesus acting' (arms thrust out at shoulder height, palms facing out, head back, Adam's apple exposed, striding in a big circle, you all know who you are) and we might have seen more of the reasons why Abigail goes mad, why Elizabeth would rather the father of her children die good than live a liar, why they gain so much energy from tearing each other apart over him, body and soul. While it's clear that Proctor is different, Abigail's story isn't dealt with in enough depth, so that you forget the childhood trauma and the disturbed mind and see only the bitch who'll get what she wants whatever may stand in her way, however entertaining that side of her may be.
However I'm happy to blame the director and not the cast for this, as what they did they did well, I just know I would have had the same cast do something rather different. Should I ever become artistic director of a famous drama school I'll try it out and prove myself totally wrong I imagine
Thumbs up to the cast in this case and 'could do better' for the direction methinks. But go anyway- they're on till the 26th and at the price of an Imax ticket you'll see real people doing exciting things for a Wagnerian length of time. And do get a pint afterwards, you might as well when the show ends after the last bus has left.
But enough moaning, this is a great production, all the cast keeping up Bristol Old Vic's high standard. The stark, wooden set of rafters, planks, crates and one very imposing cross really brought home the Spartan existence of early American farmers. Proctor's house in particular made an impression on me, its beams jagged and refusing to meet, implying the damage John and Abigail's affair has done to his home.
I'm not going to get into too many details as to the individual performances as I know a cast member and I'm not sure I'm up to a huge list of character names and a snappy little line to match.
This was a strong ensemble performance by what felt like two casts. The 'us' and 'them' feeling runs through the play, so that you're left with the feeling that those accused are charged, not with witchcraft, but with the full stigma of poverty and lack of education. Mutual distrust backs up every accusation, and it is clear that the law is only for the educated.
This play is always linked to the McCarthy trials and I did see some parallels (a brilliant little Roy Cohn moment here and there which made me smile) but what really struck me was the battle of the actors onstage. Politics were a sideline in this production; what really mattered was the delicious, poisonous cocktail of sexuality, religion and sin. Sin hangs in the air like the smell of a locker room, insidious, pungent, infecting the air and those who breathe it. The lead characters are driven almost insane by it, and the beginning of act two implies that Abigail has given way almost completely to madness, drunk with power and bloodlust. The sin of adultery drives her and shackles him, though it did not hold back the performance, as the actor prowled and brooded and sulked across the stage like a man who knows perfectly well he is the centre of the universe.
The men come off far better than the women in this play. It's plain to see that Proctor is one of those superior human beings who draws attention and respect to him whether or not he deserves it. They are the people who become figure heads and symbols at the front of the purer but less charismatic heroes of history.
The jealousy and hatred between the women however, particularly between Elizabeth and Abigail is apparently to blame for all the bloodshed and trials, which I found rather hard to swallow. The revealing of the affair reveals Proctor as a good, misguided man and Abigail as a common whore, which I personally don't buy, and maybe had there been a little more detail and a little less shouting and what I call 'Jesus acting' (arms thrust out at shoulder height, palms facing out, head back, Adam's apple exposed, striding in a big circle, you all know who you are) and we might have seen more of the reasons why Abigail goes mad, why Elizabeth would rather the father of her children die good than live a liar, why they gain so much energy from tearing each other apart over him, body and soul. While it's clear that Proctor is different, Abigail's story isn't dealt with in enough depth, so that you forget the childhood trauma and the disturbed mind and see only the bitch who'll get what she wants whatever may stand in her way, however entertaining that side of her may be.
However I'm happy to blame the director and not the cast for this, as what they did they did well, I just know I would have had the same cast do something rather different. Should I ever become artistic director of a famous drama school I'll try it out and prove myself totally wrong I imagine
Thumbs up to the cast in this case and 'could do better' for the direction methinks. But go anyway- they're on till the 26th and at the price of an Imax ticket you'll see real people doing exciting things for a Wagnerian length of time. And do get a pint afterwards, you might as well when the show ends after the last bus has left.
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