Introduction

On this page you can read about and see photographs of the set design for The Crucible. We would also like to thank Lez Brotherston, the Designer of The Crucible, for his kind permission to use his designs on our website resources.

In an interview with the Director, Anna Mackmin, we asked what were the starting points and ideas regarding the design which she and the Designer had discussed.

The Director’s Comments

‘With the design of the set, the play itself is written in four acts with one interval in between each of the two acts. It is written that each of the four acts finishes with a climax, the curtain closes and the scenery is changed. Then the curtain opens again and another act commences. Now on the Crucible stage, of course, you can’t do that as there is no curtain and one of the challenges of our space is to create a continual flow so that those acts have an overlapping development one on top of the other, rather than them being complete in themselves, because no curtain can close to punctuate.

So, we wanted a space that was iconic, that was all about framing actors but that also had an elemental aspect to it. So we incorporated earth and air, water and fire. We wanted to touch on that because we felt it is such an elemental play. We also wanted to use this idea of what it might be like to live in a theocracy where everything is literally black and white. We wanted it to feel crafted, because the Puritans’ craftwork was very beautiful. We wanted it to be an open space which allowed the play to flow fluently from one act to another and we also wanted it to frame the actors. We needed to take into account the idea that this is a tiny world in the midst of a wilderness and so we worked to create a sense of that, that there was wilderness and that there were these people imposing their will on nature, if you like. So we have put wooden planks into a ploughed field to try to give a feeling of nature surrounding this small, controlled and very contained world.’

Anna Mackmin - Director

The photographs show the set design for Act One of the play. Here you can see the wooden planks that Anna refers to and around the outer edge of the staging is the ploughed field. The use of black and white is self-evident as is the use of carefully crafted woodwork.

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