Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
Daniel Day-Lewis | ... | John Proctor | |
Winona Ryder | ... | Abigail Williams | |
Paul Scofield | ... | Judge Thomas Danforth | |
Joan Allen | ... | Elizabeth Proctor | |
Bruce Davison | ... | Reverend Parris | |
Rob Campbell | ... | Reverend Hale | |
Jeffrey Jones | ... | Thomas Putnam | |
Peter Vaughan | ... | Giles Corey | |
Karron Graves | ... | Mary Warren | |
Charlayne Woodard | ... | Tituba | |
Frances Conroy | ... | Ann Putnam | |
Elizabeth Lawrence | ... | Rebecca Nurse | |
George Gaynes | ... | Judge Samuel Sewall | |
Mary Pat Gleason | ... | Martha Corey | |
Robert Breuler | ... | Judge Hathorne |
A small group of teen girls in 1692 Salem, Massachusetts caught in an innocent conjuring of love potions to catch young men are forced to tell lies that Satan had invaded them and forced them to participate in the rites and are then forced to name those involved. Thrown into the mix are greedy preachers and other major landowners trying to steal others' land and one young woman infatuated with a married man and determined to get rid of his innocent wife. Arthur Miller wrote the events and the subsequent trials where those who demanded their innocence were executed, those who would not name names were incarcerated and tortured, and those who admitted their guilt were immediately freed as a parable of the Congressional Communist witch hunts led by Senator Joe McCarthy in 1950's America. Written by John Sacksteder <jsackste@bellsouth.net>
The Raymond Rouleau French version of the fifties featuring Simone Signoret and Yves Montand as the Proctors seems to have vanished in the air.It's never on French TV and it's not available on tape or DVD either.In the fifties this could not be filmed in the USA ,because it was a highly topical issue,hence the Rouleau version which was first a stage production.
Actually,this masterwork is so strong that it can't be connected only with MCCarthyism.Its scope reaches far beyond.It's a plea for tolerance,freedom of thinking and dignity of the human being wherever and whenever they may be endangered.An excellent cast does the play justice.Daniel Day-Lewis gives a powerful performance (I say God is dead!)that few of his peers can equal.Wynona Ryder is efficient in her ambiguous part.Joan Allen gives a subdued but moving interpretation.Paul Scoffield personifies the inhuman law with authority.Bruce Davison ("Willard"'s hero ,1971).
All in all, a magnificent show ,thanks to all concerned.