Tag Archives: Steve Furst

“The Crucible” at Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre

While Shakespeare’s Globe is no stranger to new writing, modern classics like Arthur Miller’s masterpiece are an exciting event on its stage. There is a logic: the Salem setting, obsessed with the supernatural, has affinities to the Jacobean period and Miller surely had Shakespeare in mind during his hero John Proctor’s speeches. This fine production shows the play makes sense in the venue and is a serviceable revival of a great play.

Ola Ince directs the large cast with clarity – dealing with the girls who claim possession by the devil, their victims, and the judiciary who set up witch trials. While accusations mount and tragedy ensues Ince brings the whole of Salem to the stage. The production is energetic and the dramatic stakes high, culminating in a potent emotional conclusion.

There are some interesting interpretations of the play’s famous characters. Our main villain, Abigail, is presented as ruthless but also more than a little mad by Hannah Saxby. The power her claims give her is intoxicating and scenes of confrontation with Proctor fantastic. Saxby makes it easy to see Abigail’s power over the other girls and with this there is good support from Bethany Wooding and Molly Madigan. The Reverend Parris (Steve Furst) is neurotic from the start while Jo Stone-Fewings’ Reverend Hale a touch too pompous. It becomes easy to dismiss them both (although Stone-Fewings denouncing the court is a grand moment). Judge Danforth becomes a big role in the hands of Gareth Snook – a true fanatic in scenes that, despite managing to be frightening, come too close to funny.  It could be argued these male roles are too broad, but each illustrate thorough work and deep thinking on the part of Ince and her cast.

Gareth-Snook-in-The-Crucible-credit-Marc-Brenner
Gareth Snook

Additional stages in the pit are at times fussy but provide audience engagement. Watch out if you are standing – there are tumbrels to avoid. The use of a musicians gallery and even the attic space high above the stage are inspired, giving us yet more insight into paranoia and suffering. Ince might have born in mind the danger of how silly a modern crowd find these “fearful proofs” of witchcraft. It’s hard not to have people laugh when characters take flying girls seriously or are shocked at dancing but the play needs this to be avoided at all costs.

Thankfully, the story of John and Elizabeth Proctor is very serious. Gavin Drea and Phoebe Pryce, who take the roles, are highlights and go a long way to secure the production’s success. Pryce has Elizabeth’s integrity down pat, without smugness or resignation. We don’t see enough of Elizabeth (Miller’s flaw), but Pryce develops the role with skill. Her husband is both virile and conflicted with Drea managing to convey the struggle and intense anger. Importantly, while there’s little feeling sorry for this flawed man, he still becomes an inspiration. That Proctor “has his goodness” is palpable by the end of this powerful performance.

Until 12 July 2025

www.shakespearesglobe.com

Photos by Marc Brenner

“The Beast Will Rise” from Tramp Productions

While the cancellation of Philip Ridley’s The Beast of Blue Yonder is regrettable, this series of monologues – released weekly – features the cast due to perform his play and is admirable compensation.

Directed by Wiebke Green, the online project shows the breadth of Ridley’s imagination and his inimitable style. Full of vivid images and memorable phrases, the stories and sense of humour are unmistakable. 

Fantastic beasts and

Animals, and the animalistic in us, are joined with apocalyptic scenarios and touches of fairy tales in this collection.  There’s a sense of nature, including human nature, as dangerous but also magical.

Take Telescope (with beasts are in the stars and wildlife on the local common), a piece that Unique Spencer does so well with performing. Alongside a gruesome murder, Ridley gives us a brilliant take on agoraphobia.

There’s a telescope too in Night, a short piece with Tyler Conti playing a young man who is dying, that proves haunting without any touch of the supernatural. 

Dismemberment and exploitation, horror and fantasy are all combined. And there are laughs too, including a twisted childhood prank in Chihuahua that is downright bizarre. Another strong example (with Grace Hogg-Robinson’s excellent performance) is Zarabooshka; a “shrivel-free” character’s imagination consoles and disturbs by turns. 

Finding great storytelling

From poetic snippets like Snow and River to longer pieces with “terrible things” in a world gone mad, the stories destabilise expectations as well as entertain. 

Flights into fantasy can switch off an audience. Credit to Green and many of her cast for holding fast to the writing and making the pieces so engaging: Rachel Bright in Gators, Mirren Mack in Wound and Steve Furst in Performance with the same aim – gripping an audience and not letting go.

Standing out, not just because of its longer duration, Eclipse serves as a brilliant showcase for Mike Evans. A self-conscious exercise in storytelling, it’s a macabre tale with wonderful characters. Society has broken down – again – and “old world problems” come alongside cups of tea and creepy cravats. The twisted parallel with the Coronavirus (it’s the young who are infected here) shows Ridley’s wicked streak and creates tension.

The fecundity of Ridley’s creativity is remarkable but it is a matter of quality as well as quantity. Alongside post offices and jacket potatoes, Ridley combines strong observation, a powerful sense of community (albeit frequently a mob) and recognisable geography to ground his brand of incredible. 

It’s a pet theory of mine that Ridley is the playwright of his generation who will be looked at in the future. That this collection, made under far from ideal conditions, is so consistently strong makes The Beast Will Rise a major achievement.

Posted online from 2 April 2020

www.wearetramp.com