Theatre review: John Proctor is the Villain

Set at the height of #MeToo in 2018, Kimberly Belflower's John Proctor is the Villain asks how 16-year-old girls would respond to that movement coinciding with them starting to understand their own sexuality and their relationships with men - through the prism of Arthur Miller's The Crucible. That's the text being studied by the English Literature class in a tiny Georgia town's high school when Beth (Holly Howden Gilchrist) decides to set up a feminist society - although how it'll look on her college applications might be more of a motivator than how much it'll actually engage with the discourse. She's joined by Nell (Lauryn Ajufo,) a new arrival to town who's found more friends here than she ever did in Atlanta, and Raelynn (Miya James,) still smarting from her boyfriend Lee (Charlie Borg) cheating on her with her best friend Shelby.

Shelby herself (Sadie Soverall) has been absent for several months, with the rumour mill spinning stories of her having left town after a nervous breakdown. Her return kicks off a number of dramatic revelations at the same time that classmate Ivy's (Clare Hughes) father is accused of assaulting a female employee.

Another crucial figure is English teacher Carter Smith (Dónal Finn,) who's got the air of the cool, progressive teacher and is most of the girls' big crush. But his big idea for getting the feminist society off the ground is to let more boys in, particularly to give injured basketball player Mason (Reece Braddock) something to do with his time; and his sex education classes are strictly abstinence-focused.

It's an entertaining and heartfelt play that's hugely sympathetic to the teenagers navigating the way the world actually works, but it does take a while to get to a crucial plot point that's more or less inevitable. So for the first hour or so John Proctor is the Villain actually does feel like it's mainly about a group of high school students discussing The Crucible, and coming to the titular conclusion. Once we do get to the real crux of the story things pick up, and an excellent cast - rounded out by Molly McFadden as school counsellor Bailey - navigate the tricky waters, and I thought Danya Taymor's production particularly sensitively handled the way their determination to believe women falters when faced with accusations against men they know and assumed they could trust.

There's been a huge amount of hype around the play - the run is currently sold out and there's a waiting list for "future opportunities to see the production" that strongly implies a transfer - and after a particularly strong run of shows for it to live up to I was perhaps a bit underwhelmed, and spent a lot of the evening wondering when things would kick up a notch. I can't say I ever really responded to it quite as enthusiastically as everyone else seems to, but there's no question it builds to a powerful ending, as the ongoing discussion of the "witches'" dancing in Miller's play and what it represents comes to a head.

John Proctor is the Villain by Kimberly Belflower is booking until the 25th of April at the Royal Court's Jerwood Theatre Downstairs (returns and day seats only.)

Running time: 2 hours straight through.

Photo credit: Camilla Greenwell.