Site Specific (4) - "The Crucible" research

Play:   "The Crucible"
Playwright:   Arthur Miller
Premiered:   22/01/1953, New York
Genre:   Tragedy
Set:   1692-1693, Massachusetts Bay Colony.
Characters:   4 female, 6 male. (18 total, but 10 mains).
Historical accuracy:   The play is a true story, but very partially fictionalised.

Massachusetts Bay Colony:   I decided to research this as I hadn't heard of it before. It was an English settlement in North America on the east coast. It is now Massachusetts, but it used to be Massachusetts Bay Colony and part of New England between 1628 and 1691.

Synopsis:   The following is from the eNotes website: https://www.enotes.com/topics/crucible
"In Salem, Massachusetts in 1692, Puritan minister Reverend Parris finds a group of girls dancing naked in the forest. Among them are his niece Abigail and daughter Better, who faints upon being discovered by her father. Knowing that they've sinned, the girls claim they were bewitched.

• Given the severity of the claims, a special court is founded to investigate the accusations of witchcraft. Judges are sent from Boston to assist the residents of small town Salem. During the trials, the girls scream and faint whenever one of the supposed witches takes the stand.
• Over a hundred of Salem's citizens are found to be witches. One of them, Elizabeth Proctor, proclaims her innocence to her husband, John. Her accuser, Abigail, was once an employee and was dismissed after Elizabeth discovered that John and Abigail were having an affair.
• Realizing that Abigail has incited this witch hunt to target her enemies, John fights to save his wife. He admits his adultery, only to be accused of devil worship when Abigail denies the affair. John and Elizabeth are convicted of communing with the devil. The pregnant Elizabeth is spared, but John is hanged."