What is The Crucible?
The Crucible is a play published in 1953 written by Arthur Miller. The play is set during the Salem witch trials in the late 1600s. The play is about a village that becomes involved in a witch hunt after a group of girls go dancing in the woods and one of the girls, Betty, falls into a coma, which causes rumours of witchcraft to spread throughout the village.
Characters
John Proctor
John Proctor is a farmer who lives just outside Salem. He’s seen as a respectable man but is secretly having an affair with Abigail Adams.
Abigail Williams
Reverend John Hale
Elizabeth Proctor
Reverend Parris
Rebecca Nurse
Francis Nurse
Judge Danforth
Giles Corey
Thomas Putnam
Ruth Putnam
Tituba
Mary Warren
Betty Parris
Martha Corey
Ezekiel Cheever
Judge Hathorne
Herrick
Marcy Lewis
https://www.sparknotes.com/lit/crucible/summary
Arthur Miller
Arthur Miller was an American Playwright, born in Harlem, New York, on October 1915, and died on February 5th 2005. His family was Polish and Jewish. His father was a successful coat manufacturer and his mother was a teacher. In the Wall Street Crash of 1929, the once wealthy family fell into poverty and they had to move from Manhattan to Brooklyn.
He saved up enough money to study at the University of Michigan. He wrote his first play, ‘No Villain’, in college, which he won the University’s Avery Hopwood award for. After finishing University, he moved back to East to start working as a playwright.
His first plays ere poorly received, including his 1944 Broadway debut, ‘The Man Who Had All The Luck’, which closed after just 4 performances and 3 days with lots of negative reviews. In 1945, he published the novel ‘Focus’ which was about antisemitism. His 1947 play, ‘All My Sons’, was much more successful, lasting on Broadway for nearly a full year and it earned him his first Tony Award for Best Authour.
He wrote the first act of ‘Death of a Salesman’ in less then a day, in a small studio that he built himself.
Target Audience
Target audience refers to the customer of a product or in this case, the people watching the performance.
The target audience of the performance is modern teenagers who will be able to relate more with the stereotypes of chavs vs alternative people.
The makeup and hair will need to be recognisable as either chavvy or alternative, whilst also fitting into the different sub-genres since there’s a range of alternative fashion styles and subcultures.