The Crucible

Taking as the play's basis the Salem witch-hunt of 1692, Arthur Miller demonstrates its contemporary social relevance, drawing the parallel between this event and the McCarthyism that gripped America in the 1950s

In this classic parable of communal hysteria Miller depicts not an indifferent society but one in which positive evil is unleashed

This takes the form of the persecution of minority groups and the interference of the state in the conscience of the individual

As a savage attack on the ills of 'ideological intensities', The Crucible remains unrivalled

And as the small Salem community is stirred into madness and the play reaches the violent climax, the events it describes become a timeless vision of the evils of mindless persecution