Actor's Nausea > Plays > The Crucible
Arthur Miller's "The Crucible"
Summer 2008
Massachusetts, 1692. In the strictly Puritan community of Salem, Reverend Parris one night discovers his daughter, her cousin Abigail, his slave Tituba and other local girls at a secret ritual in the woods. The shock of being found out throws some of the girls into a 'mysterious 
coma'. Concerned about his status in the community Parris calls for his colleague and expert on witchery, Reverend Hale, while the townspeople quite literally already speak of the devil. To save themselves from punishment the girls, on Abigail's instigation, start haphazardly accusing innocent people of being in league with Satan. A lie, which soon throws the town into chaos and makes the girls' word intangible law, while Parris and others try to use the ensuing paranoia to their own advantage. Every day, more people are cried out by Abigail and her friends and therefore have to face jail or even hanging without the slightest chance of defending themselves.
The respected farmer John Proctor, who once had an affair with Abigail, sees through the girls' perfidious game. But ridden by guilt over his crime of adultery and still "feeling softly" for Abigail, he hesitates to expose their lies. Only when Abigail, in the hope of winning him back, accuses his wife Elizabeth of witchery, Proctor acts - too late. Only Reverend Hale, ashamed of his part in this farce, tries to help. But guilt and innocence are already determined by the accusers' selfishness, power interests and not least by the judges' vain pride in their own authority.
Directed by
Sarah Bingham & Benedikt Sonntag
Organisation and Press
Benedikt Sonntag
Cast
Reverend Samuel Parris - Nico Siegmund
Tituba - Johanna Schewior
Betty Parris - Elisabeth Kuth
Abigail Williams - Julia Schwenner
Susanna Walcott - Bettina Huerkamp
Ann Putnam - Manuela Sonntag
Thomas Putnam & Marshal Herrick - Tilman Floehr
Mercy Lewis - Kirsten Anders
Mary Warren - Andrea Schmitz
John Proctor - Benedikt Sonntag
Rebecca Nurse - Julia Osterbrink
Giles Corey - Stephan "Bix" Breidenbach
Reverend John Hale - Tjalf Hoffmann
Elizabeth Proctor - Anna Ravenstein
Francis Nurse - Antje Schumacher
Ezekiel Cheever - Tim Claahsen
Deputy Governor Danforth - Néomi Havinga
Judge Hathorne - Miriam Piel
Sara Good - Susanne Evans
Costumes
Julia Osterbrink, Lina Goege, Néomi Havinga & Susanne Evans
Props
Elisabeth Kuth & Julia Osterbrink
Stage
Andrea Schmitz, Manuela Sonntag, Kirsten Anders & Stephan "Bix" Breidenbach
Poster
Thomas Michalski & Julia Osterbrink
Light and Sound
Jan Winkler & Tanja S. Romich
Make-up
Anke Krüger & Gerard Wüller
Program
Antje Schumacher, Benedikt Sonntag, Stephan "Bix" Breidenbach & Thomas Michalski
Stage Manager
Lina Goege
Actor's Nausea would like to thank:
Ludwig Forum für Internationale Kunst, RWTH Aachen, Institut fuer Anglistik, Prof. Peter Wenzel, Elisabeth Leuchtenberg, Sigrid Brüninghoff (theater aachen), Sandra Meis (Kulturservice Aachen), Robert Kosten, Werner Wosch, Kai Koerffer, Catherine Schnackes, Condra - Verein fuer lebendiges Rollenspiel e. V., Hannegret Stuckenburg & Partnerschaftskomitee Aachen-Halifax/Calderdale e. V., Fachschaft 7.1 der Philosophischen Fakultät, Marijke Duits & Hochschulradio RWTH
Produced in cooperation with Dramatist Play Service