The Crucible Development
Evaluation of Performance Using Picture Stimulus
One of the tasks of the workshop was to create a performance that lasted up to 5 minutes from a selection of pictures used as a stimulus. The pictures were all linked to witchcraft, the main theme of ‘The Crucible’ and ranged from a more fashionable and modern take to witchcraft to a traditional pagan pentagram. The picture stimulus that my group decided to use was the illustration of a ‘Dunking Chair’, a piece of apparatus used in the late 1600’s and early 1700’s to test if suspected witches were guilty or innocent of witchcraft. We created a piece of drama set in the modern day with pupils at a secondary school visiting a museum that is exhibiting a display of ancient witchcraft tests such as the dunking chair, and spell books etc. The boys’ imaginations are caught and upon leaving the museum they are convinced to buy a book of modern spells that they can cast at home. Their two friends are not so easily roped in and go home that night to discover a news article saying that children that purchase the book may be convinced to cut their wrists in order to do the final spell in the book. Startled by their discovery the two boys rush to their friend’s house. Unfortunately they are too late and the friends have already cut their wrists. The aim was incorporate as many dramatic techniques as possible and within our performance we used freeze frames, marking the moment, thought tracking and split focus. The techniques were used extremely successfully and helped increase the dramatic effect upon the audience. In conclusion, the performance helped to deepen our understanding of the play as we increased our understanding of the paranoia that witchcraft created in the early 1700’s: the time in which ‘The Crucible’ was set. The dunking chair showed that the public were willing to commit acts of torture to suspected witches without any solid evidence that they had done anything wrong. This is present within ‘The Crucible’ as Giles Corey is slowly pressed to death because he won’t plead guilty.
