Morality lesson for our times

THE Old Vic’s version of The Crucible, due to be sccreened soon in Irish cinemas, grabs you by the throat. Arthur Miller’s timeless classic was inspired by Senator Joseph McCarthy’s hunt for communists in 1950s America but is set amidst the hysteria of the 1692 Salem witch trials in New England.

At its core, it picks apart the marriage of the Proctors, while looking at the way in which fear of the supernatural, intolerance and paranoia can rent a community apart.

“There are resonances for the play across history,” says Anna Madeley, who plays Elizabeth Proctor. “There are events in the past that you can look to and see the same patterns of human behaviour. We might understand them a bit better but they still happen. People haven’t changed that much. Miller really tapped into ways of behaviour that are true to all people.