ABOUT THE SET
The Puritans had a grave fear of the forest. In their minds, the dark, mysterious, and unknown forest was the devil’s dominion. Evil lurked in the forest, and witches performed unholy rites there. Within The Crucible, the adults question and fear what the girls did in the forest. Yet, metaphorically speaking, the forest is not really where evil lives. Rather, evil is found within the characters’ souls. Because of this, I wanted the forest to lurk in every scene. The forest can be seen in the Parris house, the Proctor house, and the meeting house. It is always in sight because the evil follows the characters wherever they go; it is a part of them.
The only scene where the forest is no longer visible is in the jail. In this scene, John Proctor chooses what is morally right and is able to atone for his previous sins in doing so. Hence, the forest disappears from sight as his soul is metaphorically wiped clean.
The lighting is also purposefully dim. This is a dark show with dark themes. The characters live in a symbolic darkness. Most of the characters do not stand up for what is right, allowing the mass hysteria to spread in order to protect themselves or to profit from others’ deaths. The darkness is representative of these actions.
"Because it is my name! Because I cannot have another in my life! Because I lie and sign myself to lies! Because I am not worth the dust on the feet of them that hang! How may I live without my name? I have given you my soul; leave me my name!"
-John Proctor
