Sell a Door Theatre Company and Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch
in association with Les Théâtres de la Ville de Luxembourg
present
ARTHUR MILLER’s
THE
E D U C AT I O N PAC K
CHARACTER BREAKDOWN
2
SUMMARY
ACT I4
ACT II5
ACT III6
ACT IV7
THEMES9
ARTHUR MILLER10
CONTEXT11
THE SALEM WITCH TRIALS
CONTEXT: MCCARTHYISM
DIRECTOR QUESTIONS12
CONTENTS
EXERCISES14
SELL A DOOR THEATRE COMPANY
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THE CRUCIBLE
By Arthur Miller
Further details of this production
www.selladoor.com
(In order of appearance)
CHARACTER BREAKDOWN
REVEREND SAMUEL PARRIS
Parris is the minister of Salem’s church. Much of the
community dislike the minister because he is power hungry
and greedy. He is keen to build his reputation within the
community, and this seems more of a priority than the
wellbeing of his sick daughter, Betty.
TITUBA
Tituba is Reverend Parris’s slave from Barbados. She cares
for the children and creates a potion at the girls’ request
to attract men. Also at the girls’ request, she attempts to
raise the spirits of Anne Putnam’s dead children. The girls
accuse her of witchcraft.
ABIGAIL WILLIAMS
Reverend Parris’ 17 year old niece who begins the play living
with him. She is orphaned and unmarried, which leaves
her in a precarious social position, and used to be a maid
at the Proctors’ house, before Elizabeth Proctor threw her
out upon discovering her affair with her husband John
Proctor. Abigail is the ringleader of the local girls, leading
the love potion ceremonies with Tituba, and going on to
lead the accusations of witchcraft throughout the town.
She is driven by jealousy, and uses the growing fear of
witches and witchcraft to her advantage to carry out her
revenge on anyone who stands in her way. She is highly
manipulative, and her love for John Proctor is obsessive,
with her accusations eventually moving from outcasts to
his wife, under the belief that he loves Abigail more. Abigail
flees with Mercy Lewis During the trials.
SUSANNA WALCOTT
One of the younger girls who joins in with Abigail’s rituals
in the woods.
ANN PUTNAM
Ann Putnam is the wife of Thomas Putnam. She has lost
seven of her eight children, which has left her angry
and mentally unstable. She blames Rebecca Nurse, who
was present at the birth of her children, for their deaths,
through paranormal means.
THOMAS PUTNAM
Thomas Putnam is a wealthy inhabitant of Salem, locked
in a number of disputes over land and public positions. He
uses the witch trials to his advantage by accusing people
and buying up their land.
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BETTY PARRIS
of the community. She is accused of
witchcraft by the Putnams, who claim she
had a hand in the death of their children.
Rebecca refuses to confess.
MERCY LEWIS
REVEREND JOHN HALE
Daughter of Reverend Parris, Betty Parris
is the first to become ill after allegedly
being bewitched. Her sickness leads to the
beginning of the witch trials.
A friend of Abigail’s who supports her
accusations throughout, and goes with her
when she flees during the trials.
MARY WARREN
A servant to the Proctors. Although timid,
Mary is easily lead and gets caught up in
the hysteria of the rituals in the woods. John
Proctor convinces her to testify against
Abigail in court, but she cannot go through
with it for fear of being accused herself.
JOHN PROCTOR
John Proctor is a Salem farmer and
the play’s protagonist. He is a wellrespected member of the community
and a committed Quaker but is not afraid
to challenge figures of authority. John’s
affair with Abigail while she was maid at
his house has caused great distrust from
his wife, but he is eventually willing to risk
public shame by revealing the affair to save
his wife from accusations of witchcraft at
Abigail’s hands. He convinces Mary Warren
to testify against Abigail but Mary cannot
go through with it. Instead, John is accused
of witchcraft. Because he is not prepared
to condemn his friends, John refuses to
confess to the charge and dies a martyr.
A young minister from Beverly, who studied
witchcraft and demonic arts, and is invited
to examine Betty Parris when she is taken
ill. He begins by wishing to rid the town of
witchcraft but as he sees the trials spiral
out of control, his faith and confidence in
what is happening begins to fail.
ELIZABETH PROCTOR
John Proctor’s wife. A very upstanding,
honest and religious woman, but Abigail’s
jealousy means that she is accused of
witchcraft and sent to trial. Her husband
fails to save her by defending her good
character and she is only saved from death
because she is pregnant.
EZEKIEL CHEEVER
The clerk of the court during the witch
trials. Cheever had to issue arrest warrants
for the accused.
JUDGE HAWTHORN
Oversees the witch trials with Judge
Danforth.
JUDGE DANFORTH
Oversees the witch trials, and sees himself
as a fair judge being guided by God.
GILES COREY
A friend of John Proctor whose wife is
accused of witchcraft after he mentions
her interest in reading. His attempts to get
his wife’s conviction overturned lead to his
being charged with contempt of court, and
pressed with large stones until dead.
REBECCA NURSE
Francis Nurse’s wife. Rebecca is very
religious and a well respected member
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SUMMARY
ACT I
Act One takes place in a
bedroom of Reverend Parris’
house. His ten year old
daughter Betty has been
consumed by a mysterious
illness after being caught
dancing in the woods with
Tituba and a group of girls
by her father. The play opens
with him kneeling in prayer
by her bed. Parris is very
aware that this occurrence
could damage his precious
reputation; especially as
a rumour is already going
round the town that Betty
has been involved in
witchcraft, and a crowd has
assembled in his parlour.
Another of the dancing
girls has also been taken ill.
He calls for Reverend John
Hale, an expert in witchcraft
from a neighbouring town to
examine Betty, and analyse
the emerging situation.
Abigail, Parris’ niece, seems
unaffected, and Parris
chastises her for the girls’
behaviour. She denies that
their dancing had anything
to do with witchcraft, and
claims that Betty just fainted
in shock at the arrival of her
father. The Putnam’s arrive
and inform Parris that they
sent their daughter to ask
Tituba to summon the spirits
of their dead children, to
discover the identity of their
murderer. They urge Parris to
immediately announce that
he has discovered witchcraft,
to fend off the growing
crowd.
Some of the girls assemble,
worried that they will be
suspected of witchcraft if
people find out what they
were doing in the woods.
Abigail strikes Betty when
she cries that Abigail did
not tell Parris about drinking
blood as part of a charm to
kill Elizabeth Proctor, and
declares that they must only
confess that they danced
and Tituba tried to raise the
spirits of the Putnams’ dead
children.
When John Proctor comes
to the house to check up on
Betty and when he is left
alone with Abigail, we learn
that the two of them were
having an affair that John
ended. He tells Abigail that
he made no promises to
her. Abigail, however, is not
willing to accept that it is
over and takes his rejection
badly, becoming angry and
upset.
When Hale arrives, he hears
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ACT II
of the girls dancing from
Parris. Goody Putnam tells
him about sending her
daughter to conjure the
spirits of her dead children
and Giles tells him that his
wife reads strange books in
the house. Hale questions
Tituba and Abigail. Under
pressure, Abigail claims that
Tituba has conjured the devil
and made her drink blood.
Tituba claims that she only
did this under pressure from
Abigail amd that the Devil
visited her, alongside Sarah
and Goody Osborne, and
tried to convince her to kill
Reverend Parris. Abigail
catches on to this line of
accusations, and says that she
has also seen other women in
the town with the devil. Betty
awakes and joins in with the
accusations.
Act Two takes place a few
days later in the common
room of the Proctors’ house.
Over dinner, the Proctors
discuss what is going
on in the town, and that
fourteen people are now in
jail accused of witchcraft.
Tituba and the girls claim to
have seen members of the
town community with the
devil, and if they are in the
presence of a witch, they
will behave as if they have
been possessed. Anyone who
wants to avoid being hanged
must confess to the crimes
they are accused of.
Their maid, Mary Warren
returns from court where she
is acting as an official and
hands Elizabeth a doll as a
gift. She reveals that Goody
Osbourne, a poor woman
from the town, has been
accused of witchcraft and
will hang. Sarah Good has
confessed to her crimes and
will avoid this punishment.
Mary reveals that Elizabeth’s
name has been brought up
in court already as a possible
witch, and that she saved her
life by speaking out in her
defence. Elizabeth suspects
this may be because Abigail
wants to get her out of the
way to take John for herself
and tries to convince John to
go and talk her out of it.
John knows from speaking to
Abigail that the accusations
in court are fraudulent, and
tells Elizabeth that she swore
her dancing had nothing to
do with witchcraft. But when
his wife tries to convince him
to go to court and reveal
this, he said he couldn’t
because she made the
confession when they were
alone together. Elizabeth
loses faith in her husband
upon learning this, and
believes that his refusal to
testify may be because he
is trying to protect Abigail.
Reverend Hale arrives and
begins to question the
Proctors about their religious
commitment, apparently
trying to get to the bottom
of whether the accusations
about Elizabeth could be
true. When asked to recite
the Ten Commandments,
Proctor forgets “thou shalt
not commit adultery”.
Proctor tells Hale of Abigail’s
confession, and that people
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are only confessing to save
their own lives.
Giles Corey and Francis
Nurse arrive to tell John
that their wives have been
arrested, and Ezekiel Cheever
then arrives to arrest
Elizabeth. Cheever finds
the doll that Mary gave to
Elizabeth and finds a needle
inside it, which matches one
found in Abigail’s stomach
that evening, so this is taken
ACT III
Act Three occurs in the court
and anteroom of the new
courthouse. Judge Danforth,
Judge Hawthorne, Ezekial
Cheever, Reverend Parris,
Marshall John Herrick and
Giles Corey are present.
Giles Corey has attempted
to interrupt his wife’s trial,
claiming that Putnam is only
trying to get his hand on
more land. The other men try
to reason with him but he is
resolute. Francis Nurse arrives
and tries to convince the
judge that he can prove that
the girls are lying, followed
by John Proctor and Mary
Warren, who testifies that
she and the other girls were
only pretending to have been
affected by witchcraft. Parris
accuses them all of wanting
to overthrow the court.
Judge Danforth further
investigates John Proctor’s
religious beliefs, with
Cheever informing him that
he ploughs on Sundays and
Parris that he only attends
church once a month.
Danforth tells John that his
wife Elizabeth claims to be
pregnant. He says that she
as evidence of witchcraft
and Elizabeth is taken away
despite Mary’s confession to
having created the doll. The
three men plan to meet the
next morning to work out a
way to free their wives.
John demands that Mary
go back to court and
testify against Abigail. She
becomes very distressed and
claims that Abigail will kill
her if she does.
will not be hanged until she
has delivered the baby, but
that John must stop accusing
the girls of fraud. John
however stays true to the
promise he has made to his
friends and plans to testify in
court. He produces a petition
stating the innocence and
good character of Rebecca
Nurse, Martha Corey and
Elizabeth Proctor, signed
by 91 land owning farmers.
Reverend Parris demands
that all 91 are arrested for
questioning. Hale argues
that the court has become
corrupt and unjust, having
previously worked hard
to route out witches and
witchcraft on its behalf.
Danforth sends for the
group of girls and confronts
them with Mary’s testimony.
Abigail denies it and Mary
attempts to remain strong
but under continued pressure
from both Danforth and
Abigail begins to falter. The
girls begin shivering and
screaming, accusing Mary of
bewitching them, and Mary
breaks down. Proctor attacks
Abigail, calling her a whore,
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confessing to their affair and
claiming that Abigail is only
doing this because she wants
Elizabeth to hang and to take
her place in his home.
Danforth summons Elizabeth
to corroborate John’s claims
but as she has not been
able to speak with him first,
Elizabeth denies the affair
to protect her husband’s
reputation. Proctor tells her
that he has confessed, but
it is too late and Elizabeth is
sent back to jail.
ACT IV
Act Four takes place in the
jailhouse some time later.
Danforth and Hawthorne
demand that Parris tell them
why Hale has returned to
Salem. He tells them that
Hale is visiting those due
to be hanged and trying
to convince them to sign
a confession and save
their own lives. Abigail
and Mercy have fled from
Salem, robbing Parris and
leaving him penniless. The
community has turned on
Parris and he has received a
death threat.
Hale appears and tries to
convince Danforth to pardon
the prisoners, as they will
not confess, or postpone
the hangings to give him
more time. Danforth states
that this is not possible as it
will call into question both
the guilt of the remaining
prisoners and those who
have already been hanged –
bringing the credibility of the
whole court into question.
So many lives have been
destroyed by the trials that
The girls again become
hysterical, claiming that Mary
has sent her spirit to attack
them and it is going to tear
their faces. They begin to
repeat what Mary says wordfor-word. Eventually, Mary
cracks and joins in with the
hysteria, turning on John,
calling him the Devil’s Man.
Danforth orders John’s arrest
despite Hale’s protestations.
He declares he is quitting the
court altogether.
he fears rebellion.
Hale reveals that he has
not spoken to John Proctor
yet, so Danforth calls for
Elizabeth in the hope that
she will convince him to
confess. The two are left
together for the first time
since they were imprisoned.
She is visibly pregnant and
the two are very moved.
Elizabeth reveals to John
that Giles Corey refused to
confess to witchcraft in order
that his sons would still get
his land and property and so
he was pressed with large
stones in an attempt to force
his confession. Instead, he
was crushed by the stones
and died, calling for more
weight until the end.
Proctor struggles with his
decision for a long time
but eventually decides
to confess. The officials
arrive and give him paper,
pen and ink so that he can
write his confession to be
hung on the church door.
Rebecca is brought in the
hope that Proctor will act as
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an example to her, but her
presence shames him. When
pushed to confess that he
saw others of the accused
with the devil, John says that
he will only confess his own
guilt. He eventually signs his
confession document, but
refuses to have it hung on
the church door, eventually
tearing up the confession.
Proctor and the other
condemned prisoners are
led to the gallows. Hale and
Parris plead with Elizabeth to
get him to change his mind
but she refuses.
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THEMES
REPUTATION
Salem is a theocratic town, where religion
rules and public and private moralities are
one and the same thing. Reputation based
on these principles is hugely important
to the residence, which helps to fuel the
spreading hysteria through fear of guilt by
association. Rumour becomes incredibly
powerful as members of the community
fight to drive suspicion away from their
own front door. Reverend Parris’ proximity
to the girls, and his daughter’s illness
leave him in fear for his reputation. The
actions of John Proctor are also driven
by his desire to protect his reputation. He
misses an opportunity to stop the girl’s
accusations for fear of tarnishing his name
and reputation, and ultimately meets his
fate through not wanting to sign a false
confession saying, “I have given you my
soul; leave me my name.’
POWER
There are several characters in the play
who are empowered by the Salem Witch
trials and who benefit from them. These
people would otherwise be marginalised
in society, with a group of young girls at
the centre of the trials. Women would have
naturally been subordinate to men at the
time, with few options in life. They would
often work as serving girls until they were
old enough o be married o ff and become
wives and mothers. But a number of these
girls and women were also outcast for
other reasons. Tituba was a black slave,
Abigail an orphan who has had an affair
with a married man. Having ignited her
love and lust, John Proctor ends their
affair, leaving Abigail jealous and looking
for revenge. The Putnams have lost seven
of their eight children, and are looking
for someone to blame. By aligning their
views with those of God, the accusers
give themselves credibility and even more
power.
MASS HYSTERIA
Mass Hysteria can be defined as ‘a
condition affecting a group of persons,
characterised by excitement or
anxiety, irrational behaviour or beliefs,
or inexplicable symptoms of illness’
(Dictionary.com).
Mass Hysteria is commonly seen to occur
amongst the disenfranchised of society,
such as the young, or women. In the case
of the Salem witch trials, we see a group
of young women on the edge of society
showing symptoms of mass hysteria that
soon spread throughout a community,
leading to accusations on a huge scale,
nearly destroying the community
altogether. This hysteria thrives on those
who can benefit from it and is not allowed
to die out as Abigail uses the loss of logic
and reasoning amongst her neighbours to
accuse the wife she is so jealous of, and the
Putnams gain their revenge on the Nurses.
The rules of everyday life are suspended,
and this allows people to hide their selfish
acts under the guise of righteousness.
It has also been said that the McCarthy
witch-hunts of the 1950s were an example
of mass hysteria, with the nation’s
collective fear of communism during the
cold war leading to a climate of suspicion,
fear and accusations.
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ARTHUR MILLER
Arthur Miller was born in Harlem, New York on the 17th
October 1915 to parents of Jewish and Polish Heritage;
Isidore and Augusta. His father owned a successful
coat manufacturing business but the family lost almost
everything in the Wall Street Crash of 1929 and had to
move from Manhattan to Brooklyn.
After graduating from high school, Miller took up a number
of odd jobs to save up to attend Michigan University,
where he wrote for the student paper and his first play, No
Villain, for which he won an award at the school. Inspired
by his teacher Kenneth Rowe, Miller moved back East to
begin his career as a playwright.
Miller married his college sweetheart, Mary Slattery, with
whom he had two children, Jane Ellen and Robert. They
divorced in 1956. Less than a month after this, Miller
married Hollywood actress Marilyn Monroe. Their marriage
lasted just four years, and after a marriage marred by
Monroe’s struggles with drug addiction, they divorced
in 1961. Monroe died the following year. It was widely
rumoured that Miller’s play After The Fall was inspired by
their relationship – a rumour that Miller denied.
Later in 1956, the House of Un-American Activities called
Miller before the committee, having refused to renew his
passport. It was believed that his play The Crucible had
a lot to do with this, as his story of the Salem witch trials
presented an allegory of the McCarthyism the committee
practised. Miller refused to assist the committee and
inform on individuals involved in the political activity it was
attempting to undermine and so was held in contempt of
congress. The ruling was overturned two years later.
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CONTEXT
THE SALEM WITCH TRIALS
The crucible is based on actual events. In the town of Salem, Massachusetts in 1692, a group
of young girls fell ill with hallucinations and seizures. Due to the highly religious nature of
society at the time, any strange or unexplained occurrences would usually be attributed to
the devil and so these unexplained illnesses were the same. This fear was only strengthened
when the group of girls began accusing members of the community of witchcraft. Mass
hysteria spread and accusation came from more and more people who feared the finger
being pointed at them. In only a few weeks, large numbers of people had been jailed on
suspicion of witchcraft and by the time the hysteria had run its course, fourteen women and
six men had been hanged for the crime. Five others died in prison.
But Miller’s approach to the facts of the time was a fairly loose one. The central relationship
between Abigail and John Proctor (who were actually aged 11 and 60 at the time) was
entirely fabricated, and many characters where conflated for the sake of dramatic effect. The
central romance gave Miller the opportunity for a dramatic driving force behind the plot’s
development, and for a tragic hero in John Proctor.
MCCARTHYISM
The Crucible was written at a time when Senator Joseph McCarthy was running a campaign
against communism in an attempt to suppress communist actions in a time when fear of this
enemy was high thanks to the Cold War. His expression of strong anti-communist sentiment
in the public sphere ignited an intense fear amongst the population of the United States as a
whole.
Specialist committees such as the House of Un-American Activities were established to route
out members and supporters of the Communist Party and their sympathisers. The actions of
these committees were controversial, with those being investigated encouraged to accuse
others to avoid their own punishment. This resulted in a rapid succession of accusations,
with many giving false accusations to save their own skin. Many people in the entertainment
industry within which Miller worked were accused, but Miller was one individual who refused to
give into their questioning. Being accused or convicted of communism could affect a persons
reputation and job prospects for years to come.
In The Crucible, Miller reflects on this period of apparent hysteria and false accusations with
an allegorical exploration of the Salem Witch Trials, an apparently very similar phenomenon.
However, it must be remembered that whilst there were no actual witches in Salem, there were
communists in America, many of whom had their reputations protected by being painted as
victims of the McCarthy witch hunts, before later being found to have been working for the
Soviet Union.
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Douglas Rintoul
DIRECTOR QUESTIONS
WHAT FIRST DREW YOU TO THE CRUCIBLE?
I’m a big fan of Arthur Miller’s plays. Who isn’t? I’ve always
known they were great, but it wasn’t until two years ago
that I finally had the opportunity to direct one for myself. I
Directed All My Sons for the Watermill Theatre in Newbury.
It was one of the most satisfying projects of my career to
date. Major works of Arthur Miller are a joy to work with.
They give you everything. His texts, if you mine them
thoroughly, guide you carefully towards what he is trying
to achieve. His texts contain all the information to create
character, to develop back story, to follow the thoughts of
the individual characters. The punctuation shows you the
quality of the delivery of the thoughts and if we adhere
to the text carefully it enables us to create a rich world,
layered in humanity with terrifying tension. His texts also
have one eye on the audience always. In some respect
they are incredibly manipulative in their precision: they are
precise in what they are trying to instill emotionally and
intellectually in their audience. They have an incredible
capacity to move and change an audience and they
do this through emotion. They are like classical music
scores and we are the instruments, the musicians and the
conductor. All my Sons is powerful but The Crucible is his
greatest play. It is as close to Shakespeare as anything
that has been written in the last 100 years. The Crucible
is terrifying in what it portrays on stage and the world
around us. Unnervingly The Crucible is as relevant today
as it was when it was first written in the 1950s if not more
so. Somehow this text operates in three time frames. It
explores the events of the late 17th century whilst at the
same time excavating the political events in the United
States of America in the 1950’s but now it also illuminates
our own time. It has the capacity to move us emotionally,
to terrify us and also to change us - nothing is more
exciting than a play that can achieve these things. Also in
its simplest sense it is a bloody brilliant story. It is also an
incredible ensemble piece for actors to perform and it is a
huge delight of mine to tell these kind of stories that are
about communities.
HOW HAVE YOU DEVELOPED YOUR
CONCEPT FOR THE PRODUCTION?
My aim for any production of a play is to tell the story as
clearly as I possibly can and to get as close to the authors
intentions as I possibly can. This is always my starting
point. I want to be able to communicate the world, action
and atmosphere as precisely as I can. I also always want
my productions to celebrate the theatre medium and what
it can do that no other medium can, for example film and
television. So this production celebrates great storytelling
and the actor and the ensemble. Naturally there are other
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influences that have shaped my vision of
this play on stage. I feel that there is a
great connection between Miller’s work
and that of Brecht and images of Brecht’s
work comes to mind. I’m very keen that we
always understand the experience of The
Crucible as a story, a play, an allegory and
the Brecht-like quality of this production I
hope achieves this. I have also worked with
the company Complicité for a number of
years and I’m certainly very influenced by
the their work. Ultimately all my work is
guided by the intention to create beauty,
To move an audience, to show something
that says something about our own lives
and something that celebrates the theatre
and what it can achieve.
WHAT ARE THEY KEY
CHALLENGES THAT DIRECTING
THE CRUCIBLE PRESENTS?
The challenges are doing this great play
justice, of leaking out all the detail that
exists in Miller’s text. Of creating a world
that is plausible and believable, whilst
at the same time asking the audience
to remember that this is an allegory. I
think one of the greatest challenges for a
contemporary audience is that we’re not
so used to experiencing narratives that are
this long but I believe strongly that if we
do the text justice the play will envelope
us and take us on terrifying rollercoaster
ride - so much so that we don’t notice the
length of the play. The greatest challenge is
to ensure that the experiencing of Miller’s
play is one that should stay with us for the
rest of our lives.
WHAT, FOR YOU, ARE THE KEY
THEMES OF THE PIECE?
individualism thrive on dualism in political
structures and how they can be used to
repress the weak. What Miller shows us is
a society that uses extremes in morality
and law as a smokescreen for intolerance;
scapegoating the vulnerable and the
minorities for personal gain. He shows us a
sick and dangerous society one that places
power and wealth at its centre.
WHY IS IT RELEVANT IN
TODAY’S SOCIETY?
It’s easy to look around today and see
the analogies that one can make between
Salem, America in the 1950s and our
contemporary world. We live in a world of
post-truth, The Crucible is a world of posttruth. We live in a world of scapegoating
the vulnerable and the innocent for control
and power.
WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU
GIVE TO YOUNG PEOPLE
HOPING TO BE DIRECTORS?
See as much theatre as you can. See great
theatre and pinch their ideas, see bad
theatre and see how you are better. Write
to the people whose work you admire, ask
them if you can watch their rehearsals or
be their assistant. Make your own work.
And start doing that now. It is only through
the making of work and making mistakes
and achieving great things and how
audiences respond to your work can you
start to learn about what the theatre can
be. Take that work to Edinburgh, perform
it on the fringe in London or just perform it
in someone’s front room, a community hall
or a classroom. Grab some mates and just
starts telling stories.
The key themes for me are dualism,
individualism, intolerance and the
greyness of the human experience. What
Miller shows us is a dualistic society with
extreme polarized notions of right and
wrong – therefore a society that is unable
to acknowledge or except or look at the
very innate complexity of what it means
to be human. He shows us how greed and
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TENSION
The very nature of our personalities and the way we
engage with the world around us has a natural level of
tension. At any point in our daily lives we hold a certain
level of tension in our bodies. When we are asleep there is
very little tension, but to get out of bed and make a cup
of tea we physically must have more tension in our bodies
to be able to stand up and move around, although we may
still be very relaxed. On a packed train or tube on a hot
day we may be fraught and eager to get to our destination,
and the level of tension builds up as we attempt to get
from A to B in the most efficient and economical way.
Tension builds up in our bodies when we are angry or
frustrated. The most extreme state of tension is when there
is so much tension in our body that we can’t physically
move.
Exercise
Begin by exploring both ends of the scale so that you
know the extremes within which you are working.
Work in pairs. One at a time, take all the tension out of
your body (you should end up lying on the floor). Your
partner should check that there is no tension left in your
body. This is tension level 1.
EXERCISES
In the same pairs, try the opposite: make every sinew and
muscle in the body tense. This is hard work so don’t hold
this tension for more than a few seconds at a time. This is
level 7.
Now explore the scale from 1 to 7, observing the changes
that occur from stage to stage. Move around the space,
gradually injecting more tension into your body. Play
around, interacting with one another and with different
levels of tension. Try to find real life examples that
illustrate each of the different levels of tension. This is a list
of names given to each level of tension:
1. Catatonic
2. Relaxed
3. Economic
4. Alert
5. Suspense
6. Passionate
7. Tragic
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An exploration of these levels not only gives us an awareness of the body but also
enables us to develop an emotional vocabulary. *
* What happens when you make every muscle in your body tense?
* How does this make you feel?
* When you are completely relaxed how does this make you feel?
Tension in our body evokes emotion. Miller’s plays are almost operatic in their demands
on the actor: emotions run high. We rarely experience these higher levels of tension in
our daily lives, but by exploring this upper range we can begin to recognise what these
emotions feel like truthfully and how they affect our bodies. Through a regular exploration
of these levels, an actor is able to access these emotions with ease because they have
become familiar with the feeling. This process of working externally can develop the mind
and body further than intellectual exploration can. In rehearsals we often explored the
text using this vocabulary.
Imagination and collective investigation
All components of making a theatre production are carefully interwoven because
they are interdependent. Everyone was invited to contribute to the development of the
work collaboratively.
The rehearsal process supported the development of the company’s overall imagination:
the most important aspect of the rehearsal is collective investigation. From the beginning
of rehearsals all members of the acting company, stage management and creative team
amassed a wealth of visual and textual stimuli that they each felt resonated with the many
aspects of the play. The walls became covered with quotes, photographs and drawings
that related to character, themes or space. The actors were also each given a scrapbook
into which they pasted photographs, newspaper cuttings and quotes from books and
made drawings of anything they felt chimed with their own characters or the world of the
play as a whole. Each week the company shared their discoveries with one other.
Status
A knowledge of how status operates can help us to understand and clearly de ne
relationships on stage and speci cally the relationships within Endgame. To begin to
think about or to play with the complex status relationships that exist in The Crucible the
company used the following exercises to develop a status vocabulary or scale they could
collectively refer to.
Status is made up of external and internal status: respectively how the world sees us and
how we see ourselves. Our status as human beings can change according to the situation
we nd ourselves in and who we nd ourselves with. Status is at the core of all drama.
Firstly let’s explore in a purely technical way what we mean by external status. Let us
look at what ‘high status’ and ‘low status’ is. Imagine a numerical scale of status using the
numbers 1 to 20, with 20 being the highest status and 1 the lowest.
Who in our world has a high status? Who has a low status? Walk around the room with
‘high status’. Notice how you hold your head, your spine, how your clothes feel, how your
feet move, how you breathe, whether you move quickly or slowly, evenly, or with jerks.
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What is your level of tension? Now walk with ‘low status’. Again notice how you hold your
head, your spine, how your clothes feel, how your feet move, how
Now, in a group, set up some chairs for an audience. Place some more chairs and a table
in front of the audience. is is our playing space, our stage for an improvisation. Sit the
group down on the chairs. Take a hat and make 20 pieces of paper numbered from 1 to 20
(making a clear distinction between 6 and 9). Fold the pieces of paper and put them into
the hat. Ask for 4 or 5 volunteers. Each volunteer takes a number from the hat. ey look
at their number without revealing it to the other volunteers or the group. When everyone
has taken a number they then return their numbers to the hat. Ask the volunteers to pick
up any props, coats etc. they feel they may want to include in the improvisation. Send
all of the volunteers out of the room (they must not reveal their numbers to each other
whilst outside: there should be no discussion). The volunteers should then enter the room
one by one and start to improvise a scene (it could be an emergency business meeting
where an important issue needs to be resolved or any setting where a clear status
hierarchy exists). The object of the improvisation is to communicate very clearly to each
other and the audience what their given level of status is. We will try to guess this number
at the end of the scene. When we feel that we have seen enough, end the scene and ask
the audience to guess the individual status of each volunteer. What did we see? What
made us think one person was of higher or lower status than the others? What did we see
physically?
Where were they positioned in the room and in relationship to the others? How do all
these aspects contribute to communicating status? Now ask the volunteers to reveal
their numbers and what they experienced. Repeat the exercise with new volunteers until
everyone has had a go.
Now let’s explore internal status. Using the same pieces of paper as before, ask four or
ve volunteers to take a number as before. is is their external status: how the world sees
them. A er returning their numbers to the hat ask the volunteers to take a new number.
is is their internal status: how we see ourselves. As before, ask the volunteers to leave
the room and enter into the improvisation. e object of the exercise is to communicate
successfully their external and internal status. How would a high external and a very low
internal status manifest itself ? Who do we know in the world around us who has a con
icting internal and external status? How can we tell? Again end the scene and ask the
audience to guess the individual status of each volunteer. What did we see? What made
us think one person was externally or
Did someone appear to be relaxed on the outside but held a lot of tension internally?
Or was it the other way round? Did someone have a similar external and internal status?
Now ask the volunteers to reveal their numbers and what they experienced. Repeat the
exercise with new volunteers until everyone has had a go. e combining of internal and
external status exposes a very human contradiction. We are all made up of how we are
perceived by the world around us and how we perceive ourselves. ese are the foundation
blocks for forming a character on stage.
How can we use this scale in rehearsal?
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