Another look at Arthur Miller's great, important play makes us realize the puny ambitions and paltry concerns of nearly every other dramatist out there. In post-9/11 America, The Crucible seems less about mass hysteria and more about small-minded men trying to govern the world using half-truths and fear. Richard Eyre's acclaimed London staging plods a little around the edges (characters, when not center stage, tend to stand on the periphery with nothing else to do but quiver), but the drama's potency remains undiminished.
As John, Liam Neeson lumbers and mumbles and works against his natural dominance yet reaches magnificent heights in the final scenes. Capable work, too, from Laura Linney's wife and Brian Murray's judge, with a sympathetic John Benjamin Hickey a stand-out as the conflicted Rev. Hale.
