My English teacher gave us a quiz and allowed us a whole week to complete it. The quiz had 3 options and you only had to pick 1 to do as your quiz. Naturally I chose the one where I got to state how I would have the play preformed. So here is my rendition of Arthur Miller's the Crucible, not in full detail.
If I was a director at a theater company and we were putting on the play I would make sure to stay true to the original source material, but I'd also add in some scenes. The budget for the production would be about $85 million which would of course go to the making of the settings, the payroll for the cast, extras, and other staff, the special effects, the costumes, lightning, renting out a place, and renting out cast trailers. The settings from the play I would keep are Betty's room, the courtroom, Proctor's house and the jail cell. I would also add a few settings to the play such as where the hangings occured, the woods, and having Boston as a setting. I would not remove any scenes, but I would add some scenes such as the party in the woods, Act 2 Scene 2, some of the hangings, the death of Giles Corey, Ruth acting strange at the beginning of the play and the echoes down the corridor part of the play. Some effects I would add is of course the precision of the sun and moon at the parts of the play there are day and night, but I would also like to add in effects like thunder, lightning and rain. The lighting will be dependent on who is on stage, as well as what the scene is because I want the lighting to focus on the main characters of each scene, for example during Elizabeth and Proctors talk near the end of the play the lighting would focus on them and have everyone else left in darknesses so people can focus just on their conversation. Another lightning example would be Proctor and Abigail discussing the affair, the light would be in them with Betty left in the darkness that surrounds them. The costumes of each character would be accurate to the fashion of the time period the play is set in. The women and girls would wear bonnets (also known as coins), shifts, a waistcoat, a petticoat, an apron and flat or other dress style shoes. Where as men and boys in the play would wear felt hats, ruffs, doublets, cuffs, breeches, garters, stockings, and dress style shoes. The cast for my performance of the crucible would be made of big name actors and actresses who are all well respected, also most of the cast have worked with at least one other member of the cast in some movie or tv show to help with showing the bonds between their characters (cast is listed below in bulleted form).
Actors and Actresses~
Reverend Parris- Leonardo Dicaprio
Betty Parris- Francesca Capaldi
Tituba- Letitia Wright
Abigail Williams- Sierra Mccormick
Susanna Walcott- Willow Shields
Mrs. Ann Putnam- Kaya Scodelario
Thomas Putnam- Dylan O'Brien
Ruth Putnam- Lola Cook
Mercy Lewis- Sabrina Carpenter
Mary Warren- Rowan Blanchard
John Proctor- Dylan Minnette
Rebecca Nurse- Jennifer Lawrence
Giles Corey- Johnny Depp
Reverend John Hale- Tom Felton
Elizabeth Proctor- Emma Watson
Francis Nurse- James Phelps
Ezekiel Cheever- Kodi Smit-McPhee
Marshal Herrick- Jim Carrey
Judge Hathorne- Jeffrey Tambor
Deputy Governor Danforth- Will Poulter
Sarah Good- Vanessa Morgan
Hopkins- Josh Hutcherson
My rendition of the scene with Proctor and Abigail discussing the affair:
Proctor would enter and gave his normal conversation with Mary Warren. Then Mary would leave followed by Mercy Lewis. The lights then would fade and focus on Proctor and Abigail as the two step closer together. Betty would remain lying on the bed in the dark. As Proctor and Abigail are walking towards each other the psalm would start in the background. The two would walk towards each other and start talking at the same time, until they are close together and Abigail requests Proctor to give her a soft word. Well this happens the psalm starts to slowly rise in volume. The speed of the psalm will also seem to increase as Proctor calls Abigail child. Once being called child though Abigail will freak out and start to break stuff, until Betty screams and the song says the lord's name. Then of course everyone would rush upstairs in time to just see a complete mess and Betty screaming.
My rendition of the scene with Proctor and Elizabeth in the elk near the end of the play:
A small bit of light would shine through some barred windows, as the sound of rain can be heard going on outside the cell. The lighting would focus in on Proctor and Elizabeth leaving everyone else in darknesses or a position off stage. The conversation would go as scripted in the books, but include some things like a clap of thunder when Proctor finds out about Giles death. The only thing I would add is Elizabeth mentioning how no one has seen Abigail in a while. As soon as this is mentioned the camera would jump to show where Abigail is now that she has run away. After that though the scene would head right back to Elizabeth and Proctors normal conversation. The lights would then stop focusing on them as soon as Proctor says he'll confess.
