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Hes, like, my friend.
Shes a Lot, says Raelynn guardedly after Shelby crashes back through the classroom doors.
Yeah …, says Beth.
She kind of always has been.
Because it is my name!
I dont get it …
Your name is literally just a word that someone else gave to you, she insists.
… Thats what namesare: Theyre fiction.
But my body is a fact.
I mean, that sucks.
Like, John Proctor is clearly the villain, right?
Bless the director, Danya Taymor, for paying close heed to Belflowers note on pacing.
The page count might be high, writes the playwright, but this play moves very, very quickly.
If its over 1:45-1:50ish, youre going too slow.
It starts to find voice in her critique ofThe Crucible, but Mr. Smith leaps to shut it down.
John Proctor is one of the great heroes of the American theater, he declares defensively, decisively.
We loved that play.
He hadflaws, yes, but he was an honorable man, agoodman.
We were taught the same thing about Robert E. Lee.
This isnt a riff or a rewrite.
Oh no …, gasps Beth, checking her phone over lunch.
Shes saying that, like, stuffhappenedbetween them.
I mean, these are peoplesdads, you know?
Its true, though not in the way poor Ivy means it.
Theyre also peoples boyfriends and peoples teachers.
I know him, you know?
Hes, like, the best person I know.
In a way,John Proctor Is the Villainforms a powerful companion piece for Bess Wohls trenchantLiberation.
Maybe she didnt go crazy because shes always been crazy, quips Raelynn.
Or maybecrazyis the way any awakening soul looks and feels in such a mad and brutal world.
John Proctor Is the Villainis at the Booth Theatre.
