A haunting examination of groupthink and mass hysteria in a
rural community
 
The place is Salem, Massachusetts,
in 1692, an enclave of rigid piety huddled on the edge of a wilderness.
Its inhabitants believe unquestioningly in their own sanctity. But in
Arthur Miller's edgy masterpiece, that very belief will have poisonous
consequences when a vengeful teenager accuses a rival of
witchcraft—and then when those accusations multiply to consume
the entire village.
First produced in 1953, at a time when
America was convulsed by a new epidemic of witch-hunting, The
Crucible brilliantly explores the threshold between individual guilt
and mass hysteria, personal spite and collective evil. It is a play
that is not only relentlessly suspenseful and vastly moving but that
compels readers to fathom their hearts and consciences in ways that only
the greatest theater ever can.
"A drama of emotional
power and impact" —New York Post