Mandy Rosenberg ‘20
November 22, 2019
Walking into the Larcom theatre for the first time, if I hadn’t just hopped out of the car on Wallace Street in Beverly, I would not have been pick apart the environment from any other theatre I had been to in Boston or New York. Small, but with a cascading view, chairs with intricate embossed metal patterns and fabric prints, and a balcony taunting the orchestra with the amount of money they saved. I was the only person in my teens to see the Sunday matineé. However, despite being outside of the targeted demographic, I left the show having experienced a different and important perspective of a historical event that still thrives just a town over: the Salem Witch Trials.
The play follows Nathanial Saltonstall, a Christian judge from Haverhill, as he was written to help with the Salem Witch Trials as cases of the accused began piling up. His widowed daughter’s husband was killed in a Native American attack and had begun courtship with a Haverhill reverend, Mr. Cotton. Mr. Cotton accompanies Saltonstall to Salem, where the trials begin.
Saltonstall soon realizes that there cannot be a proper verdict if there are only poor witnesses and none that could come forward on the indicted’s behalf. While the other judges are preparing to convict and hang Bridget Bishop, he empathizes with her and promotes her innocence. Despite defending Bridget to the judges and Salem, it was “only an act of man” that hanged Bishop.
Benjamin Evett leads us through the story as Nathanial Saltonstall, whose performance brought us through the character arc of a man who’s sharp and conservative edges will not allow him to reconcile to one of the only people to empathize with the accused amongst the hysteria. Almost immediately I was amazed by the acoustics of the cast within the theatre at the back of the theatre.
However, the lack of the mic-ing did create problems during the introductions of later characters such as Reverend Saltonstall, actor Christopher Lydon, and Judge William Stoughton, played by Phil Thompson. Saltonstall was the occasional comic relief to the mildly dark theme, as his reluctance to his daughter’s marriage toReverendCotton had people cackling with side-eyes and sly comments. While moments between the two felt awkwardly blocked or excessive, the two had beautiful and natural onstage chemistry for a 17th century couple.
Attending the last day, I stayed and watched the artistic director Myriam Cyr sob while the theater director gave a thank you speech to the cast, crew, and production. After a week of successful workshop performances last year, the play made its debut in Beverly. It is a privilege to live in a city where I can walk downtown for a casual viewing of theatre, one that I intend on continuing taking advantage of.
If one identifies with American Culture, then they definitely know the bareness of the Salem Witch Trials. There are books, museums, classes, and of course movies which star Wynona Ryder and Bette Midler. It was a wild and inexcusable part of New England’s timeline that we often can sum up in a few sentences. However, we often don’t take time to examine the bystanders or ask the questions. For empathizers of the accused like Saltonstall who put himself at risk. Stories like Saltonstall wait for opportunities like that which Michale Cormier has given it.
The production plans to grow and to reach more audiences.
