Analysis of Acting and Directing in The Crucible
I saw the play The Crucible and there were examples of styles of directing and acting that were very interesting. The production was put on by the University of Arizona’s theatre department and as such the directing and acting had its good points and its bad ones.
There was one scene in particular that appeared to be very well directed. Act two takes place in the common room of the Proctor’s house about a week after the initial scene in the Reverend’s home. This scene was especially well directed because of its length and the number of French scenes within it.
The space where this scene took place was rather large, but there were obstacles that had to be dealt with by the director. The blocking was done well in that at no point were any of the actors in each other’s way or upstaging each other. There was also the use of the props. At one point Mary Warren entered and gave a doll to Elizabeth Proctor. This doll was placed on the mantle and left alone for a while. Later when the deputy came to arrest Elizabeth the doll was rediscovered. It had been placed originally in a spot where it was still visible and easily found. Another example is the placement of John Proctor’s whip. In the same sort of instance the whip was placed originally in a spot where it was easy to get to later in the scene.
The many French scenes also must have been challenging to the director. Different actors were entering and leaving the common room throughout the entire scene. The timing of these scenes was very well directed and made the scene flow smoothly. The director used the entire stage and at no point was it unbalanced or lopsided.
One character I found engaging was the Reve...
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...when the judge and the deputy are attempting to get John Proctor to confess. The way that Frank Mihelich, John Proctor, over did the ending caused me to leave the theatre with a bad taste in my mouth. I also know that if I felt that way then my friend would have felt even worse. She always seems more critical of plays than I do. When Proctor signed the confession and then tore it up and gave his speech about wanting to keep his name, my friend would not have been convinced. She would have said that Mihelich could have got the point of the speech across more effectively with less emotion.
In all, the directing and acting both had its good points and its bad points. Unfortunately, the one well directed scene and the one convincing actor would not have been enough to satisfy my friend, and it was not enough to satisfy me.
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The Crucible is a play that was written in 1952 by Arthur Miller. This play takes place in Salem, Massachusetts, where witch trials were held in 1692. Miller is able to combine nonfiction and fiction in order to make this story dramatic and entertaining. A few decades after The Crucible play was published, a movie version was released. There are various differences between the book and the movie version. The movie added various scenes, elaborated on others, as well as omitted some scenes. The movie expressed Arthur Miller’s book in a very dramatic and exaggerated way. It made the reader have a better understanding of some points in the book and emphasized ideas more clearly, such as jealousy and hysteria.
This movie was beautifully produced. I don’t believe another director could have done as good of a job as Luis Puenzo did. I believe Puenzo was able to bring this story to life and allow us to be able to really relate to each character intricately because he lived through the uncertainty and witnessed the agony faced by many, and he made all of the emotions real through this work. I also believe that having actors and actresses that lived through the experience was an excellent move.
Analysis of The Crucible by Arthur Miller ‘You have made your magic now, for now I do think I see some shred of goodness in John Proctor.’ Assess the developments in John Proctor’s character that validate this statement. How does Miller create a sense of tension and suspense in the build up to this climatic moment in Act 4? In Arthur Miller’s play The Crucible he has used many dramatic devices in order to create tension and build up to the climaxes of the story.
is what got the girls started on their accusations, as they were afraid to get in
Throughout the course of life, many things are needed to survive. The main three are food, shelter, and love. Along with these main things there are side items. One of which is entertainment. Entertainment comes in a variety of forms. Some include: sports, music, video games, shopping, and movies. From observation one can conclude that movies are a popular form of entertainment. What most people fail to see when they view a movie are the camera angles, visual aids, and audio aids used by the director of the film. In The Crucible by Arthur Miller, the director demonstrates the power of image, sound, and camera techniques very well.
Overall, the film adaptation of The Crucible, is a fairly enjoyable and faithful representation of Miller’s original play. The film goes hand in hand with the play, and provides the emotion input that the play may lack for some. Lead by Daniel Day-Lewis, the cast is mostly solid and is able to actively portray the emotions of the characters and the hysteria of the village. While some characters can fail to deliver as expected, the film is still enjoyable and can be helpful in expanding your knowledge of the play. The film adaptation of The Crucible is a well produced version of the play that not only serves as a companion to the play, but an entertaining and though provoking experience.
and shame. Early in the drama, it is revealed that Proctor has been unfaithful to his wife, Elizabeth, indulging in an extra-marital affair with a servant girl, Abigail. Suspecting the affair, Elizabeth dismisses Abigail amid rumor and innuendo, and Proctor confesses to his wife. The value of truth in their marriage is sorely tested when Elizabeth cannot find it within herself to forgive him. As the chain of events surrounding Abigail and the dancing girls in the forest leads to mounting self-protective lies about their activities, many women in the community, including Elizabeth, are accused of the practice of witchcraft. When the magistrate comes to arrest Elizabeth, the charges revolve around a doll made by servant girl Mary Warren and Abigail’s claim that the doll is Elizabeth’s devilish instrument of torture. Mary Warren’s awakening to the truth about Abigail’s lies causes her to question he...
I will be directing a scene from Act 3, of the play The Crucible by Arthur Miller.
Whenever a written work is adapted into a movie, artistic changes have to be made to create an effective film. The play The Crucible relied heavily on complex dialogue passages and took place in a very small group of settings. Due to time constraints, the movie could not include all of the book’s dialogue and still be entertaining. Thus, the director culled out the most important passages, often separating complex 1 setting scenes in order make the movie easier to understand. The director also used a wide assortment of camera techniques to highlight what portions the director wanted viewers to feel emotional about. Overall, I felt that The Crucible movie adaptation was done well.
The loud drum roll that heightens violently at the end of the play signifies a definite end to the play. It leaves a tense atmosphere; which leaves the audience to contemplate the play and particular characters and their relevance to the title. Proctor would be seen as the one comes out of the ‘crucible’ purified. The light that shines through the window at the very end of the play makes the ending symbolic. The word, ‘new’ almost lets us forget all the tragic events that have passed and that the best solution would be to start afresh. It leaves the audience thinking there is a hope for the people of Salem especially with the presence of light.
In my opinion, I think that The Crucible is successful in its own right because it taught many people about mass hysteria, the witch-hunt and also McCarthyism and how these were all linked.
The setup of the stage was very simple. It was the living room of a home in the early 1980’s. It looked like a normal household, and it had small things such as crumpled up pieces of paper lying around the wastebasket. It also had a couch, circular class table and a recliner in the living room. The dining room was to the left side of the stage and only had the dining table and surrounding chairs. There was a door in the back of the set where characters entered and exited through. Beside the door was a table and stool where Willum presumably worked on his blueprints for the hotel. The lighting design was great; it put you into the atmosphere of the
In The Crucible, Arthur Miller establishes the universal theme that good does not always prevail over evil. It shows that fear and suspicion can produce a mass hysteria that destroys public order and rationality. This theme is clearly identified through the character's actions throughout the play. Three characters in the play demonstrate different types of human condition through the decisions they make. Reverend Hale and John Proctor represent the human condition to choose rationally while Danforth advocates a more traditional side. All but Danforth have a change of heart from the given situation. The Crucible argues that even when a society is corrupt, a person with high moral character can follow their conscience to make a good decision.
Arthur Miller's play, The Crucible, and the movie with the same name have many differences and similarities, all of which contribute to the individual effectiveness of each in conveying their central message.
Modern day directors use a variety of methods to hold ones interest. Ethan Hawke and Kenneth Branagh’s created versions of Hamlet that shared some similarities, but ultimately had many differences in respects to an audience’s appeal. An appealing movie is one that has an alluring ambiance and an intellectual stimulus. With these two movie versions, a setting and a mood forced an audience to acquire specific emotions, but Ethan Hawke’s version generated emotions more strongly and effectively. Also, these movies had extremely different uses of music and visuals, but both movie versions incorporated them well for the ambiance it tried to obtain. Finally, both movie versions drew characters to captivate the audience; however in Ethan Hawke’s version, the characters were used so effectively that it was easy to feel involved with them. While both these versions of Hamlet had a captivating ambiance, Ethan Hawke’s version was more appealing due to the intellectual incentive that it offered.