{"id":123670,"date":"2025-05-22T22:31:10","date_gmt":"2025-05-22T22:31:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/123670\/"},"modified":"2025-05-22T22:31:10","modified_gmt":"2025-05-22T22:31:10","slug":"reviews-of-the-crucible-at-shakespeares-globe-in-london","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/123670\/","title":{"rendered":"Reviews of The Crucible at Shakespeare\u2019s Globe in London"},"content":{"rendered":"

A reviews round-up for the new Shakespeare\u2019s Globe production of Arthur Miller\u2019s <\/strong>The Crucible<\/a> in London.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Directed by Ola Ince<\/strong>, The Crucible is now playing at Shakespeare\u2019s Globe until 12 July 2025.<\/p>\n

Read reviews from TimeOut, The Times, The Guardian and more, with further reviews to be added.<\/p>\n

The Crucible stars Gavin Drea<\/strong> (Wedding Season) as John Proctor, Hannah Saxby<\/strong> (Some Demon) as Abigail Williams, Phoebe Pryce<\/strong> (The Importance of Being Earnest) as Elizabeth Proctor, and Jo Stone-Fewings<\/strong> (Home I\u2019m Darling) as Reverend Hale.<\/p>\n

The wider cast includes Sarah Belcher<\/strong> as Ann Putnam \/ Sarah Good, Sarah Cullum<\/strong> as Martha Corey \/ Ruth Putnam \/ Cover, Joshua Dunn<\/strong> as Cheever, Steve Furst<\/strong> as Reverend Parris, James Groom<\/strong> as Willard \/ Cover, Joanne Howarth<\/strong> as Rebecca Nurse, Molly Madigan<\/strong> as Mercy Lewis \/ Cover, Aisha-Mae McCormick<\/strong> as Susanna Walcott \/ Cover, Stuart McQuarrie<\/strong> as Thomas Putnam \/ Judge Hathorne, Sarah Merrifield<\/strong> as Tituba, Scarlett Nunes<\/strong> as Betty Parris, Glyn Pritchard<\/strong> as Francis Nurse, Gareth Snook<\/strong> as Deputy Governor Danforth, Howard Ward<\/strong> as Giles Corey, and Bethany Wooding<\/strong> as Mary Warren.<\/p>\n

See more photos and videos of The Crucible<\/a><\/p>\n

Joining Ola Ince in the creative team of The Crucible are: Amelia Jane Hankin is Set and Costume Designer, Renell Shaw is Music Composer, Lindsay McAllister is Assistant Director, Kevin McCurdy is Fight Director, Ebony Molina is Movement Director, Raniah Al-Sayed is Intimacy Director, Annemette Verspeak is Text and Voice coach, and Becky Paris CDG is Casting Director.<\/p>\n

In The Crucible, consumed by paranoia, superstition and a ruthless sense of justice, a climate of fear and mass hysteria sweeps through the town of Salem, Massachusetts when rumours grow that a group of girls are practising witchcraft. What lies are the townspeople prepared to tell themselves in order to survive?<\/p>\n

The Crucible is playing at Shakespeare\u2019s Globe from 8 May to 12 July 2025.<\/p>\n

The Crucible is part of Shakespeare\u2019s Globe\u2019s new 2025 season, including productions of Shakespeare\u2019s Romeo and Juliet<\/a>, The Merry Wives of Windsor, Twelfth Night and Troilus and Cressida. More about the 2025 season<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Book tickets to The Crucible at Shakespeare\u2019s Globe in London<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

What are the critics saying about The Crucible?<\/p>\n

The Times<\/p>\n

\u2605\u2605\u2605<\/p>\n

“A stolid, no-frills revival at the Globe”<\/strong><\/p>\n

“The tempo drags, but Gavin Drea brings quiet dignity to the lead role in Arthur Miller\u2019s portrait of the Salem witch trials”<\/p>\n

“It certainly makes sense to bring Arthur Miller\u2019s portrait of the Salem witch trials to the period stage of the Globe. No gimmicks, no ultra-modern conceits. Ola Ince\u2019s stolid, no-frills production possesses the aura of a travelling show that has pitched its tents by the Thames and set out its wares for the passing public.”<\/p>\n

“If the tempo drags during the lengthy first-half exposition, the groundlings find themselves drawn into the tumult in the courtroom scene, witnesses and officials taking their places among the audience. This is, you suspect, what it may have felt like to be immersed in a community at the mercy of superstition, rumour or malicious gossip.”<\/p>\n

“Gavin Drea, though, brings quiet dignity to the role of John Proctor, the independently minded farmer”<\/p>\n

“A long evening leaves you feeling that you too have done a full day in the fields. Even so, the moment when the girls seem to give themselves up to evil spirits offers a raw, chilling glimpse of the supernatural.”<\/p>\n

Clive Davis, The Times<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Read the review<\/b><\/p>\n

<\/a> <\/p>\n

More reviews by Clive Davis<\/p>\n

<\/a> <\/p>\n

More The Times reviews<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

TimeOut<\/p>\n

\u2605\u2605\u2605<\/p>\n

“Ola Ince directs Arthur Miller\u2019s bombastic allegorical tragedy as if it was a storyline in \u2018The Archers\u2019”<\/strong><\/p>\n

“Ola Ince\u2019s recent productions for the Globe include a gritty police procedural Othello and a modern dress Romeo and Juliet that was so progressive it made the front page of The Sun (\u2018Wokeo and Juliet\u2019, the headline screamed). It\u2019s therefore somewhat surprising that \u2013 aesthetically speaking \u2013 hers is by far the most trad take on Arthur Miller\u2019s The Crucible I\u2019ve ever seen”<\/p>\n

“But after a little while adjusting to the production\u2019s rhythms it becomes apparent that Ince has done something quite distinctive with The Crucible: she\u2019s directed it like an episode of The Archers. By that I mean she\u2019s tuned down the bombast and supernatural elements and essentially played it as a naturalistic drama about the eccentric, bickering inhabitants of Salem, Massachusetts. This is carried off surprisingly smoothly, at least at first.”<\/p>\n

“Locked in a state of permanent, bitter brooding, Drea\u2019s Proctor lights up only when he first encounters Abigail and otherwise drifts guiltily to his end.”<\/p>\n

“In general, it works pretty well. But the fact of the matter is that The Crucible actually is bombastic, and in the final furlong Ince\u2019s production suffers from underplaying events.”<\/p>\n

“It\u2019s a valid and interesting take that both gains and loses from toning things down. And even reined in, it looks pretty spectacular under the darkening London skies \u2013 it\u2019s the first American tragedy ever staged at the Globe, and it shouldn\u2019t be the last.”<\/p>\n

Andrzej Lukowski, TimeOut<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Read the review<\/b><\/p>\n

<\/a> <\/p>\n

More reviews by Andrzej Lukowski<\/p>\n

<\/a> <\/p>\n

More TimeOut reviews<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

The Guardian<\/p>\n

\u2605\u2605\u2605<\/p>\n

“Ola Ince brings absurdist comedy to Arthur Miller\u2019s classic”<\/strong><\/p>\n

“This production is faithful to the original 17th-century setting. But director Ola Ince brings a quietly radical touch in the form of humour \u2013 more absurdist than comic, with accusations of flying girls and demon possession taking on preposterous tones.<\/p>\n

“A few songs by composer Renell Shaw give the town\u2019s girls and women a greater voice in an otherwise dutiful revival which flies in the first half but slows to a trudge by the third act.””<\/p>\n

“there is some fine acting from Gavin Drea as John Proctor and Hannah Saxby as his sometime lover, Abigail Williams”<\/p>\n

“Amelia Jane Hankin\u2019s set design has a Quaker bareness, pious and unadorned, with wooden bedsteads and big kitchen tables. “<\/p>\n

“It is a shame the pace slows to such a degree (performed at three hours on press night). Even so, discretely powerful scenes go some way to bringing the tension back, and as the first Miller play to be staged at the Globe it is a powerfully pertinent choice.”<\/p>\n

Arifa Akbar, The Guardian<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Read the review<\/b><\/p>\n

<\/a> <\/p>\n

More reviews by Arifa Akbar<\/p>\n

<\/a> <\/p>\n

More The Guardian reviews<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

The Evening Standard<\/p>\n

\u2605\u2605\u2605<\/p>\n

“The Globe take on Arthur Miller\u2019s endlessly relevant play with broad strokes”<\/strong><\/p>\n

“Ola Ince\u2019s solid and well-acted production somehow doesn\u2019t hit right in the open space of the Globe, even though the venue should feel closer to the world of the play than a theatre of more modern design. The script\u2019s solemnities and its artful recreation of archaic puritan language provoke discomfited laughter here rather than shock and awe.”<\/p>\n

“A good Crucible, but not a great one.”<\/p>\n

Nick Curtis, The Evening Standard<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Read the review<\/b><\/p>\n

<\/a> <\/p>\n

More reviews by Nick Curtis<\/p>\n

<\/a> <\/p>\n

More The Evening Standard reviews<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

The Stage<\/p>\n

\u2605\u2605<\/p>\n

“Unconvincing…Incoherent ensemble drama”<\/strong><\/p>\n

“Stripping the subtlety and grounding realism out of Arthur Miller\u2019s 1953 masterpiece about mass hysteria and the dangers of blindly submitting to authority, this incoherent ensemble drama, directed by Ola Ince, never feels believable.”<\/p>\n

“Miller\u2019s play \u2013 which hinges on establishing a mood of inescapable claustrophobia \u2013 is an awkward fit for the open-air space. The uneven cast flounders between projecting out to the audience, forcing in unnecessary punchlines, and jokily acknowledging every passing plane, continually puncturing the building tension.”<\/p>\n

Dave Fargnoli, The Stage<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Read the review<\/b><\/p>\n

<\/a> <\/p>\n

More reviews by Dave Fargnoli<\/p>\n

<\/a> <\/p>\n

More The Stage reviews<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Average Rating: 2.8 Stars<\/b> based on 5 reviews<\/p>\n

CriticScore: 56 based on 5 reviews<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The Crucible<\/p>\n

Shakespeare’s Globe,\u00a0London<\/p>\n

Offer: Save up to 29%<\/p>\n

Book tickets<\/p>\n

<\/a> <\/p>\n

\ud83d\udcf7\u00a0Main photo: The Crucible at Shakespeare’s Globe. Photo by Marc Brenner<\/p>\n

Related News<\/p>\n

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