The Crucible keeping audiences on the edge of their seats

A CRUCIBLE is a container in which metals and other substances are melted or exposed to high temperatures, or in which different elements react.

That is the basis for Arthur Miller’s dark 1953 play The Crucible, based on the witch hunts and trials in the Puritan town of Salem in 1692.

Miller wrote The Crucible when America was persecuting alleged communists across the country from the Government to Hollywood.

The theme is creepily relevant today in the current political climate, where campaigns of fear cause hysteria and the most vulnerable are often targeted.

More than 150 men and women in Salem were accused of witchcraft.

Director Karen Francis has a huge talent that would do justice to any professional Perth production and nothing seems to present a challenge to her.

The misty set was arguably one of the most effective ever at Mandurah’s Fish Trap Theatre, the music was spot on, spooky and chilling, and the cast was stunning to a man (or woman), with special mention to Abbey McGaughan, Tara Elliott and Tom Hennessey.

The cast was so alive with talent it might be assumed some had been imported from elsewhere, but all except one was a local.

The Crucible ran for three-and-a-half hours but the audience was so gripped, the time flew.