D.C. Stage Review: “John Proctor Is the Villain” Is A Thrilling Drama
metroweekly.comJohn Proctor Is the Villain (★★★★☆) grabs hold early, building through pungent twists towards a fierce, freeing climax.Riffing on a feminist reading of Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, Belflower’s high school-set crucible, like Miller’s play, operates adroitly as both think-piece and thrilling drama.
As Miller used the Salem witch trials to obliquely portray the witch hunt of the McCarthy-led Red Scare, Belflower remixes The Crucible‘s plot to produce an incisive allegorical take on another age of paranoia, fear, and accusations: the #MeToo era.The play is set in the bygone days of 2018, and it’s through that cultural lens that the kids in Mr.
Smith’s high school English class interpret the exploits and affairs of Miller’s characters. Belflower orients us swiftly in class via a snappily written opening scene introducing Clark Kent-handsome Mr.
Smith (Dave Register), his diverse half-dozen students, and enough backstory to intuit where rifts or alliances might develop.Director Marti Lyons springboards from that engaging start into a well-orchestrated succession of usually brief, occasionally jaw-dropping group scenes and emotional tête-à-têtes.
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