Nov. 6, 2006
The Crucible
I've always loved the theater, but my husband was not especially crazy about it. He would probably have rather gone to a latin music concert if he had to go out. But his preference was to just stay home. For years I've heard about what a fantastic work of art Arthur Miller's play, "The Crucible," is. Our local acting company was presenting it, so I decided to go with my children, who are 9 and 11. I told them that they might not like it, and that they could close their eyes and go to sleep if it was too boring. But they were not allowed to misbehave at all. I had a little bit of trepidation when I walked into the theater and saw that there were no other children there. But the play was so good. My older son, Gabriel, understood a lot and was sort of interested. Poor Mario, who is nine, could not really follow the speedy, high-level dialogue. But he sat quietly and tried to figure out what was happening. I was just thrilled that we all got to see such an American treasure. As we walked out, I said, "Wasn't it interesting the way, little, by little, all the characters saw how wrong hanging the women for witchcraft was, except for the chief judge? Can you think of any current political situations that are similar?"