Set Design

The overall set design was inspired by Lars von Trier’s film Dogville:

The film uses its floor like a blueprint and allows solid structures to rise out of it. Designer Megan Bailey reconciled the theatre space available for The Crucible with the furniture demands of the four acts. The floor marked out the items of furniture that would be moved on and off, act by act. She also designed a structure that would stand at the back of the stage, that both echoed the production’s poster and allowed different lighting schemes for each act.

Act I

Act I takes place in a bedroom on the first floor of Parris’s house. The lighting gestures to this raised room.


Act II

Act II takes place in the Proctors’ home, and the lighting suggests a burning fire. This image of warmth is at odds with the chilly relationship between husband and wife.

Act III

Act III is set in an anteroom to the Court. The illumination of the top panel not only signified something happening at the high end of society, but also picked out a cross in the structure, reflecting the religious inflection of the proceedings.

Act IV

Act IV takes place in the gaol. Three quarters of the structure was lit, while one remained dark, a subtle comment on the material missed in the trials themselves.