After only hearing about this play quite recently, I was mesmerised by the performance put on by Wilson’s School last week. Powerful, emotive, compelling. Only three words of many that could be used to describe this masterpiece. I would definitely recommend that you see a form of this amazing play.

I’m great friends with a couple of the main actors in this play, and this, whilst it didn’t spoil it, gave me an insight into how great this play was. I often helped practise with one of the actors to revise his accent (a Sheffield one - which I do like doing myself!) and as a result of these sneak previews, I was inspired to go to watch the play.

Now. To the part that you have all been waiting for (yes, I know I read your mind!). The review! On the Tuesday night, I was immediately gripped by the serious dialogue and visuals. The play started with a dramatic scene where a young child has fallen ill and won’t wake. From here, the plot deepens, and the actors excellently portray this with intense emotion. From the evil Abigail to the inquisitive and kind Reverend Hale, to the ‘witches’ who get quickly condemned, all parts of this play ran incredibly smoothly on the night – which was also down to the hard-working crew behind the scenes of the play, who set up the lighting, music and the set which created an ominous atmosphere on that cold, Tuesday evening. Another great touch by the Director of this play was to have the actors visibly sat off the sides of the stage - instead of hidden in the wings - which gave the production a greater authenticity as it more truly represented the 1600s.

I asked the actor who played Reverend Parris, Aaron Gillett, what his favourite part of acting in the play was, and what he found most challenging about playing the character of Parris. Firstly, he said that the best thing was “Watching the whole thing come together with your mates. Working together builds a connection and it’s nice to pull it off together.”

To the second question, he answered: “The hardest thing was finding the nuances in the character and in Miller’s writing. Also developing the emotions and intentions of the character in the performance, rather than just playing ‘angry’ or ‘happy’.”

This shows how much he values the actors and crew in the play, which was reflected by the quality of the performances on display, and also how dedicated he is to his acting. He spent 3 months working on this play after school, on the weekend and of course in his own time – an amazing feat considering this is the GCSE year as well!

Overall, ‘The Crucible’ was an excellent production, and I hope that many people watch this play and that this review does it justice!

Written by Alex Topliss