LONDON - THE CRUCIBLE EXPERIENCE

After all these years, at last 

I know you've been reading  all those excellent reviews the show has been getting after press night and I don't dare compete with them. This is just my totally biased account of an incredible adventure, the one my friends and I shared going to London to see The Crucible and, of course, Richard Armitage. Can you imagine how thrilling it might have been meeting him and, above all, seeing him in action on stage? I bet you can, if you know me at least a little. And can a dream come true meet expectations? Yes, unbelievably so, in my case. Even surpass them. Before you go on reading, here are a couple of due warnings: 1. you'll find some spoilers here and there 2. you may suffer from sudden fits of envy or jealousy. Sorry. 

The Crucible  - My review

Yaël Farber's adaptation of Arthur Miller's play is a powerful show: it has the power to touch your heart, provoke your brain and punch your stomach. I heard Miller's classic drama about persecution and mass hysteria risks to be removed from school syllabuses  in the UK. What a  pity! Nonetheless,  it is successfully  back on stage thanks to Farber's atmospheric, thrilling adaptation  performed by a brilliant cast led by Richard Armitage

The Crucible  tells of the infamous Salem witch trials that ended up with innocent bloodshed  between February 1692 and May 1693. 

The director's main aim  seems to be connecting those ancient facts to the present-day as much as possible. Fear of  the unknown, of the foreigner, of the different has provoked collective hysteria on more than one occasion in history and the frightening power of false accusations has brought so many lives to an end so often. 

In order to create a connection with more recent events,  the opening scene of the play develops around a pile of shoes on the floor, at the centre of the stage,  ashes pouring down from the ceiling. The actors enter in scrambled order, sit on chairs and wear a pair of those shoes.   Shoes and  ashes are all that is left of the victims of past horrors, the actors are ready to be in their shoes for three hours and thirty, they are ready to give them back voice and life. (I was sorry this scene was cut when we saw the show again on 2nd July)

Then the story starts off, constantly accompanied by a gloomy, low, visceral soundtrack and, mainly,  in a very dark, minimal  scenery. Impossible to remain untouched, impossible not to notice how engaging this show is. The energy the 24-actor ensemble conveys through their intense facial expressions,  frantic movements, overloud voices is undeniable. I was completely absorbed in the story-telling,  concentrated on and concerned about what was happening on stage. It was simply magical. It was as if I was part of the story. I found myself gesturing, nodding or shaking my head in denial to what I was seeing or hearing. 

If you don't know anything of the plot, my advice is to read the text before you see the play,  so that you can focus on other details. Or if you can, do as my friends and I did:  we saw it twice. We could notice a lot more, that way. 
If you haven't decided yet, I recommend you to go and see it. Farber's The Crucible  is breathtaking, mind-blowing, gripping. I came out shaking and speechless after seeing it for the first time. More than moved, as I thought I'd be, I was shocked, angry, frustrated and puzzled. 

I think nobody can see this show and remain indifferent . Except,  maybe,   if they decide to leave the theatre during the twenty-minute break and having seen just the first half of it, like the 3 people sitting in front of me on press night one  on 2nd July.  Those three people made me terribly happy, because I could see everything perfectly after they left, but I suspect that one of them, the only man in the trio, might be the author of this awful, unfair review on the Daily Mail. If only he had stayed on! I would have seen less perfectly,  but he would have written a different review. That's for sure. 

How many stars, you ask? I think... Five with honors and distinction.

John Proctor

Richard Armitage as John Proctor - my edit

Richard Armitage is a passionate John Proctor. Stunning acting, I was in awe. I must confess I studied him the second time: his movements, the strain in his muscles and sinews, his stares, how he used his hands, his feet, his voice. I was sitting aside the round stage and could see everything from a very short distance, a privileged perspective indeed.
Richard's guilt - ridden John Proctor stands up proudly when in  public, shouts and roars aggressively and becomes frightening, almost feline, when he chases bold Abigail or disobedient  Mary, but he bends his shoulders and head a little and  speaks  softly when with Elizabeth, his wife. His wife... The scenes between Richard Armitage and Anna Madeley were  my favourite ones. No, no, don't get me wrong! Not because of the shirtless moment, which I think is an extra bonus for Richard's female fans he graciously accepted to perform. 

I liked it much more once John put  his shirt back on and Elizabeth entered the stage. Their postures, her stiffness and his restlessness, their silences spoke volumes. There was palpable sexual tension, there was desire suppressed and denied. There was so much said in the unsaid, that I found their acting touching and realized I was not breathing. 

When all that tension was released in the end,  and their marriage renewed in their final passionate kiss,  my feelings were overwhelming.
At that point, I was already shivering because of the helpless, visceral cries with which Richard had delivered Proctor's famous quotes: "I say:  God is dead" and "Because it is my name". After John and Elizabeth's moving farewell,  I was totally smitten, undone.

To relate with John Proctor while watching the show is really a shattering experience. I was exhausted, tachycardic. I just can't imagine how Richard may feel  at the end of each performance. May God give him the strength to relive such an absorbing, devastating experience so many times in the next two months and a half.  It must be cathartic but, nevertheless, draining.

Meeting  Samantha  Colley aka Abigail Williams

Samantha Colley on stage and outside the Old Vic with me and my friends - my edit 

On our first night at the Old Vic, on 30th June, I sat in the Dress Circle with my friend Antonella, the rest of our friends were, instead, downstairs in the Stalls. At the end of the show, still shaken and a bit confused, I followed  Antonella downstairs,  in order to join the others. 
Since we couldn't find them outside, I stood at the main entrance and Antonella walked toward the stage door to see if they were already there waiting for Richard to come out. Of course, they were. How could I doubt?
While I was waiting for Antonella's return at the main entrance, the young actress playing Abigail Williams passed by and stood just next to me waiting to cross the road. My friend got back right then and I whispered,  "Look at this girl! She's Abigail!" . With no hesitation, Antonella called out: "Abigail? The lovely girl turned, smiled at us,  surprised and happy.  

We talked with her and she answered kindly and was so grateful for our compliments. She told us her name was Sam, that this was her first experience on stage after drama school, that she was humbled to be chosen for such a great play and in a leading role.

We asked her if she liked being Abigail, admitting we had hated her while watching the show.   She told us she definitely liked the role,  especially because she can relate to Abigail and understand her  reasons . "Abigail", she said, "is desperately in love with John Proctor. And once you feel her motivations, you can understand,  if not like, her".

"And what about the other Salem girls? Why do they do what they do?", Antonella asked. "The others are just sheep!", Sam admitted. "While Abigail is strong and manipulative, the others are gullible and weak".

We had been talking for a while, when Sam suddenly asked: "Sorry,  but ... Aren't you going to see Richard?" I'm sure we stared at her: "Ehm, yes, but no hurry, there's a long queue."

We congratulated her again before saying good - bye. We were astonished after discovering  how young she was and how different from Abigail she was!
She is new in the profession, but talent compensates everything she may lack in experience: scary and bold on stage, sweet-and-disarming-in-real-life Samantha Colley, turns into an amazing Abigail, and interacts with the rest of the cast so convincingly! 

I met her again at the stage door on 2nd July and she posed in photos with us and signed my friends' books. She left saying to me: "Bye! See you later" . "Later!?!",  I thought.  When? Where?

Guess what? I saw her later! She was talking with 2 people at Waterloo Station while we were getting to the underground and I thought, " She was right. We've seen each other again,  later". Gosh. Sam/Abigail must be a real witch!

Meeting  Richard  Armitage

Richard after the show, by my friend, Luisa. Wrong date, it was June 30!

The first thing I noticed was that he was tall, just very, very tall, as I expected. He is handsomer, slimmer and looks younger in person. I  also noticed how different his natural posture is respect to that of most of his characters. Since I had just seen an imposing, fierce John Proctor on stage, that was my term of comparison when I met him at the stage door.  Nothing imposing, overbearing or fierce in Richard 's posture,  he looked meek and laid-back. He was wearing jeans, a white t-shirt and an olive green jacket. 

He was clearly exhausted and a bit in a hurry,  but approached the line of people standing neatly and stopped to talk with them, sign  autographs, smile at their comments, pose for photos with them. 
I was ready with my copy of Miller's The Crucible opened on the first page. I didn't want Richard to see the book cover,  because it was just the ugliest one I had ever seen! My book is a MacMillan scholastic edition, with glossary and study questions, useful to a teacher like me, but, actually, the only edition I could find in London that afternoon. I really hoped Richard wouldn't notice it. 

"How many of you do I have to hug?" - Picture by my friend, Luisa

I watched him approaching the end of the line where I stood.  I went on grasping my book and my smartphone, trying to take pictures of him from time to time,   but with nothing intelligent or interesting to say coming to my mind. My disloyal mind had gone blank. 

When he got to my friend Antonella and me, we had just the time to say "Hello Richard!" and he had already taken my book in his hands:  he looked at the blank page, then closed it to have a look at the cover before he signed and ... I wanted to disappear when he gave me a puzzled look or something like Gisborne's smirk  after looking at the possessed girl on the cover. It was just a fraction of a second , you know.  I tried to apologize telling him: "it's just an awful edition of The Crucible" while he was signing it. I finally thanked him saying, "But now it is better". 

He looked at me a bit puzzled again. How silly must I have sounded? He moved to Antonella then,  and I felt  relieved it was over for me. At least,  I couldn't tell him anything stupid anymore.  I stared at his autograph on my book ready to move soon after he had finished with my friend  Antonella. She was a bit more in control than me,  so she told him the proper things: that we were Italians, that she had come from York  and I  from Rome to see the show. And he said: "York? Oh!" and then, addressing to us both he added,  "Bless you!"

When I thought it was definitely over and looked around to join my friends, I felt Richard's hand on my shoulder ... he was approaching me to take a picture... he leaned in ... an automatic blissed smile sprang on my face ... and ... shot taken by Antonella who was super ready to do it ! Wasn't that luck?  My friends went on teasing me all the rest of our stay in London. "She,  the one who didn't ask for a picture with Richard, instead got to get one!".   

Here we are! My one weakness & incredibly happy me. I still can't believe it.

We met Richard again on Wednesday, 2nd July. We weren't sure he would appear back stage to sign autographs again, but he did it  and that day he had performed in two shows in a row: one at 2 p. m. and one at 7.30 p. m.

I already had my picture with him and his autograph on my ugly book, but I was so excited after being almost on stage with the cast that night,  my memory was still filled with blue stares (Richard's) and my heart leaping up in total awe, so I followed the hit of the moment and decided I could do it again. This time Antonella wasn't with me, she had returned to York, but I was with my other Italian friends, who had travelled from Rome to London with me. They had had a picture with Richard all together and wanted one with him each of them alone, instead. 

While waiting for Richard, we congratulated all the cast leaving the theatre from the back door. I saw Sam/Abigail first and called her by her name because my friends wanted to meet her. She joined us smiling, ready to sign autographs and pose for pictures. Then we greeted and congratulated Tituba (Sarah Niles), Reverend  Hale (Adrian Schiller) and Mary Warren (Natalie Gavin). 

Finally Richard came and, like the first time,  he seemed in a hurry, but stopped with anyone queueing for him. This time I asked him to autograph one of his pictures in The Old Vic book of  The Crucible, which I had bought in the foyer.  I told him, "Second time even better, Richard. We saw the show twice". He said, "Really? Bless you." That's it. Again, I couldn't find anything interesting to tell him. 

However, all my friends are now the proud owners of a picture with Richard Armitage and we are all satisfied. 
We stayed there until he signed the last autograph, took the last picture and said good-bye. Bittersweet moment when we realized, "no more Richard Armitage live for us,  but lots of good memories".  

Meeting Marama Corlett

Marama Corlett in rehearsals, on stage and with me - my edit

We were all very happy, satisfied and chatty,  while reaching the underground station to go back to our hotel. At the station, as I've already told you before (see Meeting Samantha Colley aka Abigail Williams above), we saw Samantha Colley again, but from a distance. Anyway,  our lucky encounters were not over yet.
Unbelievably, waiting for our underground train to arrive,  I casually turned my head back and I saw little Betty Parris just behind me. I mean, the young actress playing that role in The Crucible was there just behind me.  How fortuitous was that?  

I was blunt enough to speak to her and she was really friendly when I approached  her with "May I ask you a question?" 

She was surprised and honestly happy we had recognized her. She even told me something rather weird, "I saw you in the theatre. You were sitting  just on the right of the stage". OMG! How did she notice me?
I just remarked,  "Really?!?",  then told her, "What I wanted to ask you is ... your age! We've bet, you know. One of my friend says you are more than 20, I say you are younger, much younger." She laughed and said, "I'm afraid,  your friend wins."

Marama Corlett and Sam Colley in rehearsals

We discovered several things talking with her in the underground train.   Marama Corlett is her name. She is from Malta. She understands and can speak some Italian. She learnt watching Italian TV with her grandfather in Malta.  She used to be a dancer, but now she wants to be an actress. She has been living in London these past seven years.
She was friendly and honestly interested in our opinions on the show. She answered all our questions with  a radiant smile lighting up her brown eyes and pretty face all the time.  
We asked her about her role, about the changes we noticed between the first and the second time we saw the show. She asked us how we became friends, since we came from different places in Italy and we had to tell her that we had become friends  thanks to our common interest in Richard Armitage.  "You liked him in The Hobbit?", Marama asked. "The Hobbit?!? We've been friends and have travelled to and around England together in the last 5 years", we answered. "Have you ever heard of  North and South? " 

Marama Corlett's official still

Well,  she hasn't. Marama knows Richard as an actor because of The Hobbit, she doesn't know anything of a Mr Thornton from Milton. What does that tell you?  Yes, that she is very young!

By the way, talking with Marama, we happened to know that Richard had appreciated the little gifts my friends E. and S.  had brought him on our first night at The Old Vic.  She told us that in the latest days , he had told the rest of the cast   that he had met many Italians come to see the show and that they had brought him chocolates and a small red luck bringer. We were so excited hearing that Richard had appreciated E.'s & S. 's  little gifts, and even shown them to the other actors in the cast. He had talked to them about us Italians and Marama said that he liked the red luck bringer and asked her if she knew what it meant, and that he had appreciated and eaten the chocolates. (Good, glad he did it.  He needs lots of luck and lots of energy to face the next extremely fatiguing months) We explained to Marama what she might say to Richard about the little red luck bringer. She gently coped with our enthusiasm, she carefully listened on,  looking at us with eyes saying,  "I can't believe I just met you . What a coincindence!"
We took pictures with her and she wanted one taken with her mobile. We said good-bye to Marama at Lancaster Gate.

Marama Corlett is an extremely kind girl and such a talented artist. Her convulsions and contortions on the bed were impressive, as well as her facial expressions and feeble voice were disquieting. She is a fascinating, sweet, little creature. To see her on stage with all the other  Salem girls was a really frightening experience. To meet her after the show,  be granted her smile and talk to her  was a delightful, memorable surprise.

Conclusions. where I confess the last of my sins  (... for now)

Those who confessed were safe and free in Salem. Even if their confession was a lie. However,  my confession here is the truth: at the end of the show, I stole something. I picked up from the floor half of the sheet of paper with John Proctor's fake confession on. It's  the document he signs, then tears, then keeps in his angry grasp during his desperate final soliloquy,  and which he finally throws away.
When my friends saw where I was sitting, they asked me to do it. We had seen where more or less the paper fell during the first show.
So, at the end of the second night at The Old Vic, nonchalantly, after the actors left,  I walked from my seat directly to the centre of the stage (only 3/4 steps away), looked down with a fake  What-is-this?  look,  bent down and collected my prey.
I took it discreetly to one of my friends, who longed to have it. I was astonished at myself. She had asked me that as a favour and I had answered: "I can't do that! Please, you know I'm not that bold". But then I did it,  anyway.  As I also did other things I'd never thought I'd do in my life.  For instance, flying to London to see my favourite actor on stage twice! Do you think I'll go to hell? OK! I think I can do this. I hope I 'll meet John Proctor there.

You can see all my pictures from The Crucible Experience on facebook

For more info about the show visit The Old Vic official site

Thanks to all my friends who were in London with me. Without them, without any of them, this incredible adventure wouldn't have been the same. Many thanks to Richard Armitage, Samantha Colley, Marama Corlett, Adrian Schiller for being so kind to us.