Theater News

Ben Whishaw and Sophie Okonedo Lead New Broadway Revival of Arthur Miller's The Crucible

The drama will return to Broadway under the direction of Ivo van Hove.

Tony winner Sophie Okonedo may star in a 2016 Broadway production of The Crucible.
Tony winner Sophie Okonedo will star in a 2016 Broadway production of The Crucible.
(© David Gordon)

Arthur Miller's landmark drama The Crucible will make its way back to Broadway this season, beginning previews February 29 and opening April 7. The production, at a theater to be announced, will be directed by Ivo van Hove, who also helm's this fall's revival of Miller's A View From the Bridge.

As previously speculated, the cast will be headed by Tony Award winner Sophie Okonedo (A Raisin in the Sun) as Elizabeth Proctor. She will be joined by Ben Whishaw (Skyfall) as John Proctor, Saoirse Ronan (Atonement) as Abigail Williams, and Ciarán Hinds (Game of Thrones) as Deputy Governor Danforth. Philip Glass will compose the production's original score.

The Crucible is set in the tight-knit, Puritan town of Salem. The plot is described as follows: "When a group of girls are discovered dancing in the woods and then immediately fall ill and no earthly cause can be identified, fear and suspicion begin to percolate in the small, isolated community, that something larger…may be to blame."

The play was first seen on Broadway in 1953 in a production at the Martin Beck Theatre. It has since seen four revivals, the most recent of which was a 2002 production featuring a cast that included Laura Linney, Liam Neeson, and Kristen Bell.