Of all the themes that haunt Arthur Miller's classic play The Crucible, none seems more powerful or destructive as fear. Set during the Salem Witch Trials of the 1680's, it is Miller's depiction of primal fear that drives ordinary people to commit heinous acts of treachery, seclusion and murder.
Miller wrote the play in 1953 as a metaphor designed to expose the destructive potential of fear during the age of Joseph McCarthy. Three years after the play debuted, Miller was convicted on a contempt of court charge when he refused to reveal the names of other people who had attended communist meetings with him.
Unfortunately, Cal McLean says, fear still plays a major role in the culture of America. McLean is the director of the Clarence Brown Theatre's production of The Crucible, which opens this week.
McLean says it's ironic that a nation that prides itself on its inclusivity is so quick to ostracize people who look, sound or act different. "If it wasn't the Irish in the latter part of the 19th century or the Germans in the earlier part of the 19th century, it's Hispanic people now and Muslim people now as well."
It makes for a strange cultural paradox, McLean says. "This kind of duality in American culture that values the contributions of other people, at the same time, fears that things will change too much."
The Clarence Brown Theatre will present preview showings of The Crucible on September 28 and 29 and the show's opening night is September 30.