★ ★ ★ ★ ★
185 words, 1 minute read time.
The Crucible is Arthur Miller’s classic play. It deals with themes of hysteria and paranoia in 17th Century Salem, Massachusetts. It has never seen a production like this. Jacob Gutiérrez-Montoya has reimagined the play through the medium of contemporary dance and a blinding soundtrack. There is no spoken dialogue. This fine cast from the Sacramento Contemporary Dance Theatre shows everything. They depict the innocent dance in the woods. They show the tension between the Proctors. The trials, the denunciations, and the executions are depicted through the medium of dance. The feverish choreography increases the tension. The choice of music also raises the stakes. This electrifying portrait documents a small community destroying itself. Gutiérrez-Montoya stands out as the menacing Judge Danforth.
Reviewed by David Kerr
THE MUSIC
- Seven Devils – Florence and the Machine
- Me and the Devil – Soap and Skin Mimoser – Agnes Obel
- Moved – Laces
- Hosea – Apparat
- Lucid Dreaming – Dominique
- Flesh and Bone – Black Math
- No Fate Awaits Me – Son Lux
- Hellhounds – Karliene
- Something Bad – Cynthia Erivo and Shoshanna Bea
- Buried (Feat. Katie Herzig) – Unsecret
- Empire of Our Own – Raign
- Dropped Soul – Murcof
- Snowing – Sonya Kitchell
