CINEMALIVE REVIEW: The Crucible ★★★

The Crucible
CinemaLive
December 4th 2014

Originally playing at Bristol Old Vic, from June to September, earlier this year, Arthur Millers The Crucible now has been screened thanks to CinemaLive, in association with Digital Theatre. Under the directors eye of Yaël Farber, this classic play is still an innovation with audiences all round.

Based around the times of Salem’s witch trials, I had never read the play before, or knew nothing of these particular trails, though I felt like when watching the production, this was not something that I had to worry of. I say this because the production itself was was very straightforward and the characters in the production were so full rounded in their personalities and emotions with the events happening throughout.

Visually also the show was stunning. With such little set at times, you completely forget that this production is being watched by an audience, because you can just envision the setting that the characters are in. The way the lighting was staged, and having candles lite throughout scenes, just made the scenes in the play become very much more creative and believable.

The acting from both the main cast and ensemble was kept with high energy throughout the show, really making those edge of your seat moments really stand out, almost making you forget that this production is three and a half hours long, because personally for me the time flew by and I couldn't believe how long I had been sat in the Cinema.

I've watched a lot of cinema screenings now of plays, and I genuinely think I take the same amount of pleasure leaving a cinema screen then I do leaving a theatre, or perhaps even more due to the angles you may not be able to see I'm person, but for me, The Crucible just worked as a whole because of how crisp everything looked on the screen, and really captured every moment perfectly.