The Crucible is on from Thursday 19th until Saturday 21st February at Fitzwilliam Theatre Auditorium. I asked the two directors, Rebecca Vaa and Michael Tigchelaar, and the President of Fitz Theatre, Leona Hayhoe, for their thoughts on the production.

First, I asked Rebecca what made them decide to put on this classic play. "The Crucible was originally Tig’s [Michael's] idea" she said "but I thought it was a brilliant idea to take such a classic and see if we had anything new we could bring to it and play with. The characters are also so lovely, even the bad guys. Every character has such depth, and their own story to tell."

Did they adapt the play in any way to suit the needs of a modern audience?  "Not too much. We decided not to go with West Country accents, or any uniform accent at all for that matter, because for us the production wasn’t about recreating the 17th century, but about trying to pull these morals and this conflict into a timeless environment."

Michael was clear about what he wanted the audience to take away from the production. "We don’t necessarily want to teach people a lesson here. This is about entertainment.  Steinbeck wrote of his book The Grapes of Wrath - 'I've done my damndest to rip a reader's nerves to rags, I don't want him satisfied'. We’re the same, we’re trying to create lasting images in the audience’s mind, using shock tactics, and playing up on the supernatural aspect of the play, to emphasise the fact that certain characters actually believed they were being attacked by witches. I want the audience to believe they are in the presence of witches too, and to be frightened by it. The end of Act 3 has a classic horror film feel to it!"

Given that there has recently been an acclaimed London production of The Crucible, I asked them both about the importance of students reinterpreting theatre and particularly about the fact this cast is predominantly made up of freshers.

Michael's considers this, "Professional theatres tend to play it a bit more safe to keep their reputation, but you really get the feeling that student directors/writers are willing to go out with a bang, to try and put on something to shock people, to continuously ‘one up’ all the eccentric directors that have been around before." Rebecca added that it was just chance that it is mainly a freshers' production: "We happened to cast a lot of freshers. The production team is entirely freshers as well, which means that we’re all relatively inexperienced and new to this. It has both been refreshing and also quite a challenge, but it’s been a lot of fun."

Rebecca was honest about the challenge of directing such an iconic show, as a first year student: "There is the fear that most people won’t agree with an interpretation, or will constantly be drawing parallels to productions that they’ve seen. As I have never directed before the organisational side of things has been really tough. But the show will be fantastic nonetheless!"

The production features a lot of music. Rebecca pauses, it's "so much about deception of people's senses", she goes on. "Seeing spirits, hearing voices, growing cold and fainting, so we wanted some sensory effects to emphasise these moments of witchcraft and horror for the audience, and music and sound are such a great tool for doing so. It really sets the mood and creates and environment."

The Crucible is being performed at Fitzwilliam Theatre Auditorium. President of FitzTheatre, Leona Hayhoe, has been instrumental in putting on the play. She told me it has been challenging.

"The last FitzTheatre production was put on over two years and not much of a paper trail was left to work from so almost everything we, that is myself, Carlo Lori (Treasurer) and Alex Cicale (Secretary), have had to work out as we go. This means that occasionally things have not gone as planned! I hope that at the end of our term we leave enough of a good foundation, and a healthy paper trail, that the society can continue to go from strength to strength and theatrical endeavours in the college can grow using the fantastic space we have here for productions."

And Leona had no doubts about The Crucible as the right production to revive the society: "It is the favourite play of a friend of mine who is currently at drama school in London. She told me about the drama of the twisting relationships and its potential for impact on an audience. I’ve always been an Arthur Miller fan and had read and enjoyed The Crucible before but after encouragement from my friend I saw the play through a different lens and was drawn into the intrigues and motives of the characters. It was also a play that would work extremely well in the space we have here at Fitzwilliam. It all just fit so perfectly that it was a no-brainer."

She particularly liked Rebecca and Michael’s interpretation. "They stripped the period setting away to place the emphasis on the action and the characters. Their interpretation is not a modernisation as such but rather a production that takes place in a timeless space that brings to the forefront the universality of the themes. Rebecca and Michael have never directed a play before and a lot of the cast and crew are freshers but you would never know this from their enthusiasm and confidence. I am proud to have been involved in giving them a stage to realise their vision."