Arthur Miller's The Crucible. (NY) Tickets

Great show but (yes, there is a ''but''), I often had trouble understanding the actors' words, even though I was sitting at Orchetra level, row H, seat 110. The voice projection of certain actors is lacking in strength and the articulation (or pronunciation) also is sometimes ''lazy''. I am French Canadian but my knowledge of English is good (lived & studied in NYC for 2 years): shouldn't have to struggle so hard to 'get' the text. And don't forget that a good part of your audience is not American. Besides that, the other dimensions of the acting are top notch, and the direction is extraordinary. P. Glass's sound- track contributes strongly to the mood, although it can also accentuate the difficulty for the audience to hear the text. A. T.

We found this play very long and slow. Of the four plays we saw on broadway this trip, this was our least favourite

The Crucible has been my favorite play since I read it at 13. This performance beautifully captured the fear and paranoia of the piece. The best performances were by the actors playing John and Elizabeth Proctor, Rev Hale, and Giles Cory. The girls were very effective as a group. The actress playing Abigail was a little one dimensional, but I think that was a deliberate directorial choice.

A stripped down version of Arthur Miller's play, 101 years after his birth. The attribution of the Salem witch hunt to a teenager's sexual jealousy overlooks the genocide of women in the western world. Ben Whishaw is unable to carry the burden of the righteous male albeit adulterous wronged to the end and comes off a hipster caught in the wrong age. Instead it is Sophie Okendo who puts in a sublime performance as his wife while Ciaran Hinds completely overwhelms the last third of the play with with a dominant performance.

The actors were amazing, the sets and direction were phenomenal and the story by Arthur Miller is unforgettable. What a fabulous night at the theatre!