The Crucible

Unabridged
Author: Arthur Miller
Narrator: Stacy Keach , Richard Dreyfuss
Genres: Audio Theatre, Drama
Publisher: LA Theatre Works
Date: November 2009
Length: 2 hours
Ratings:
Formats:
  • CD

Overview

The Crucible portrays 17th-century Salem, Massachusetts, as a rigid theocracy eager to ferret out real or imagined deviations from the norm. The play indicts everyone in Salem -- and by extension American society -- for the crimes of intolerance and blind hatred.

Reviews (5)

Sad that we have progressed so little

Written by Todd Brown on July 5th, 2005

  • Book Rating: 3/5

I had to rate this book based on the writting and the narration even though I must admit I came away feeling gross and dirty. The sad thing to me is that I can see this happening everyday on a smaller scale. Lord help us, we can be such shallow creatures. We all to often beat people with the Love of God. Forgive us. What more could you ask from the author of this story, but to recognize us in his mirror.

Wouldn't Recommend Listening to a Play on Audiobook

Written by Anonymous from Bronx, NY on May 9th, 2005

  • Book Rating: 2/5

While I am a big fan of Arthur Miller, this audiobook was a disappointment. I don't doubt that The Crucible is an excellent play, but it was very difficult to understand what was going on without the benefit of narration. I couldn't separate the voices, which meant that I often couldn't properly follow the plot. I won't borrow plays on audiobook in the future, as it was just too confusing.

ok

Written by Brian Wells on March 29th, 2005

  • Book Rating: 3/5

Just "ok". Kind of short. A little difficult to separate the different characters' voices (at least on my poor speakers).

A Searing Allegory

Written by Anonymous from Hartford, CT on February 1st, 2005

  • Book Rating: 5/5

A well-made audio-play. Don't miss it, and do think about its implications for today. Arthur Miller wrote it in reference to the McCarthy era, but it remains relevant today.

The Crucible

Written by Lucy Menger on December 22nd, 2004

  • Book Rating: 5/5

Gripping presentation of an historic tragedy.. My only objection is that the two CDs are labeled "Comedy".

Author Details

Author Details

Miller, Arthur

"Arthur Miller is a well renowned play write. He wrote many plays, his best being Death of a Salesman. It ""stunned audiences with its brilliance and was quickly earmarked as a classic of the modern theatre""(imagi-nation.com). In 1943 he was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Death of a Salesman. ""He has come to be considered one of the greatest dramatists in the history of the American Theater, and his plays, a fusion of the naturalistic and expressionistic techniques, continue to be widely produced""(imagi-nation.com). Arthur Miller wrote The Crucible as an allegory for the McCarthy era and the Salem Witch trial hysteria and uses motifs in Death of a Salesman to point to an underlying ideas as well as verbal and symbolic technique help back these ideas. Miller was denied a passport to see the premeir of The Crucible and was under scrutiny with Congress because on an ongoing investigation of Communism in the arts. Miller was married to Actress Marylin Monroe for 5 years and in the 1950's he began writing screen plays one of which he wrote a part in for Marylin. During the filming of Misfits Monroe was heavely using drugs and their marriage begain to crumble. They were divorced in 1961.

McCarthyism took place throughout the 1940's and 1950's during the threat of Communism. Senator Joseph McCarthy made an accusation that there were hundreds of Communists that had infiltrated into the United States. This theory of his was later proven to be untrue, but his zealous campaigning style ushered one of the most repressive times in the 20th century American Politics. McCarthyism is known as the paranoid hunt for infiltrators and was especially hard on writers of this time because some were accused of being communist sympathizers and were unable to write and had their passports taken away. (American Masters). "