‘Crucible’ Retains Its Intensity

Arthur Miller’s provocative drama “The Crucible” will always be pertinent. Every era has its witch hunts, all as disheartening as the early 1950s McCarthy-HUAC scourge that drove Miller to write this searing reminder of what happened in Salem in the spring of 1692.

Like all witch hunts, the Salem season of panic and vengeance was little more than mob violence, committed by the lowest members of the community to the highest officials. The few who drew back in disgust were ostracized, some even taken to the noose for showing their humanity.

The revival at Saddleback College’s McKinney Theatre, under Jeff Paul’s rigorous and caring direction, for the most part looks for and finds the emotional core of what tore apart Salem. Wally Huntoon’s spare, visually appealing settingn and Diane Lewis’ somber period costume design create an arresting framework for the action. (Lewis’ one slip is forgetting that the judges would not wear their robes and periwigs outside of the courtroom.)

John Proctor, in a day when only marriage allowed sexual intimacy, “knew” young Abigail Williams when she worked as a maid to Proctor and his wife, Elizabeth, who fired Abigail when she learned of the affair. Abigail, defiantly sure that John still loved her, resorts to charging Elizabeth with witchcraft in an attempt to destroy her and eventually have John to herself.

Her plan, involving several other young girls whom Abigail has led to believe in the visits of Satan, starts a slow tide of rumor about many of the women in Salem and their evil deeds. All innocent, they are found guilty in the eyes of the law, destroying many lives and eating away at the heart of the community.

This is powerful stuff, and for the most part Paul and his young company bring understanding and compassion to the events in Miller’s almost poetic melodrama. They know the point Miller was making.

Several of the performances are impressive in the insights and subtext at the actors’ command.

Kyle P. Roach is particularly outstanding as the intelligent and caring Rev. John Hale, who comes to Salem to investigate the situation, then remains to throw doubt in the faces of the righteous avengers. Roach’s subtlety and inner concentration are notable.

So are the volatile changes required of Marisa Passanisi as Abigail. Passanisi has a wide palette of stark emotional colors she applies with assurance and understanding of Abigail’s twisted thinking.

Tom Monroe’s Rev. Samuel Parris, a bitter, egocentric, small-minded villain is a standard but fervent portrait, less rewarding than Karen Angela’s restrained but compelling Elizabeth Proctor.

Eric Davidson, playing much older as the logical, terrified Giles Corey, is valid and affecting, and Casey Dacanay’s terrified, malleable Mary Warren, one of Abigail’s young followers, is vivid and convincing.

Adam Soriano is fairly stolid as John Proctor and only goes beneath the surface of Proctor’s pain in his final scene on the way to the gallows. There is little of the desperate honesty and towering good will that make Proctor the hero Miller imagined.

Kieleil De Leon gives a powerful, searing performance as the head judge, Deputy Gov. Danforth, but he has created a vicious man with little feeling. He is much less terrifying than a Danforth who is totally honest, a man who believes in the letter of the law, in spite of the destruction it is causing.

*

“The Crucible,” McKinney Theatre, Saddleback College, 28000 Marguerite Parkway, Mission Viejo. Thursday-Saturday, 8 p.m.; Sunday, 3 p.m. Ends Sunday. $9. (949) 582-4656. Running time: 2 hours, 40 minutes.

Adam Soriano: John Proctor

Karen Angela: Elizabeth Proctor

Marisa Passanisi: Abigail Williams

Kyle P. Roach: Rev. John Hale

Casey Dacanay: Mary Warren

Tom Monroe: Rev. Samuel Parris

Kieleil De Leon: Deputy Gov. Danforth

Eric Davidson: Giles Corey

A Saddleback College Department of Theatre Arts production of Arthur Miller’s drama. Directed by Jeff Paul. Scenic design: Wally Huntoon. Lighting/sound design: Kevin Cook. Costume design: Diane Lewis. Stage manager: Shannon Pickett.