The Crucible

By Arthur Miller

Performed at the Nuffield Theatre on 18th to 23rd June, 1979

Arthur Miller was born in New York on 17th October 1915, the son of a clothing manufacturer. He attended the University of Michigan from 1934 to 1938, where he twice won the Avery Hopwood award for playwriting. On graduating, he returned to New York and quickly gained a reputation as a script writer, contributing material to such radio programmes as The Cavalcade of America. In 1944, Miller was invited to participate in gathering and preparing material for the film The Story of G. I. Joe. His experience of army life, gained during this project, also gave rise to Situation Normal, a volume of sketches.

Millers first play to appear on Broadway, The Man Who Had All The Luck, brought him no luck at all and lasted only four performances. In 1947, however, All My Sons enjoyed a long run and won the New York Drama Critics award. Death of a Salesman, first produced in 1949, built upon this success and is regarded as a landmark in American drama.

Miller was known to be a sympathiser of left-wing political causes and was the subject of investigations into Communist influence in the arts. The Crucible (1953) did nothing to dampen suspicion, since it was seen as drawing a comparison between the Salem witch trials and American hysteria over communism. In 1956 he was called before the House Committee on Un- American Activities and on refusing to name his political associates, was cited for Contempt of Congress. The decision was, however, reversed by the courts.

His other works include Incident at Vichy and After the Fall, an autobiographical drama based on his four year marriage to Marilyn Monroe.

The Cast 

For the Maskers