The Crucible – Sound Design

The Crucible by Arthur Miller is a show about how an oppressive environment can cause a society to break down into chaos, terror and disorder. The people in this story cling so tightly to their religion that they lose their humanity. In supporting the production, I sought to use the soundscape to amplify the fear and uncertainty that permeates the atmosphere. Wind envelops the space before the show begins and carries the tension from one scene to the next. A single note from a prayer bowl and harmonic vocalizations beseech the audience to meditate on the ever-relevant allegory for the use of fear as means of control. Our initial approach encouraged the use of period-accurate music played by modern instruments. As we moved closer to tech we began to realize that the voices and sounds of the actors themselves were powerful instruments and this led me to eliminate many of our early choices.