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DramaThe Crucible: Act One – part 1

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Teacher’s notesFlash activity (these activities are not editable)

Extension activities

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Functional skills

Consider Miller’s stage directions, including setting and lighting, in Act One of The Crucible

Learn about Puritan dress and how to go about designing costume

Consider several of the characters in detail, finding quotations to support your observations

Learning objectives

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Plot summary exercise

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Re-read the stage directions given before the play starts. Miller takes great care to set the scene. He gives detailed information about the stage furniture, and also about the look of the room where the action takes place. He also tells the reader/director about the lighting that should be used.

Setting the scene

Furniture: Lighting:

bed

chair

chest

small table

narrow window with leaded panes

burning candle

morning sunlight

What effect will the lighting and sparse furnishings have on the audience?

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Setting the scene

Is there anything missing from the stage? What lighting is being used?

This is a picture taken of a production of The Crucible. Try to identify the different things that Miller describes.

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Setting the scene

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The black and white could symbolize the Puritans’ sharply defined moral code, and their rigid definition of good and evil.

Puritan costume

This is a picture of Abigail, taken from a production of the play. Notice how the director has used a very sharply contrasting black and white costume, whereas in reality the clothes would have been quite dirty and worn.

What else can you say about her costume?

Why do you think the director / designermight have chosen this costume?

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