D.C. Stage Review: “John Proctor Is the Villain” Is A Thrilling Drama
John 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.