I have done some research into John Proctor for the purposes of helping me to apply it to my performance, so I did several different areas of research such as the background information on John Proctor and who he was and what made him out to be that type of person.
I’ll be relating resources to help me with also having a better understanding of how to develop my character during certain scene’s such as who he dislikes and why and what’s causing him to react differently towards Elizabeth.

I have chosen John Proctor for research as I found out that he’s a thirty year old male who has dealt adultery on his wife which is Elizabeth, as he immigrated to Massachusetts which lead him to being a land owner and that he was a farmer who owned the farm land.
It was interesting when John considered himself to be shamed and lost to God due to having an affair with Abigail leaving him to being unable to forgive who he is; he was a very sociable open minded person who would widely support people he knew who got accused for the wrong reason whilst going through any circumstance to gain vouches for Giles Corey and Elizabeth.

I’ve chosen the adultery affair as the issue for the family as it’s taken a horrible toll on how they’ve lived and seen each other, I’ve used guilt from the circles of attention for Proctor as he continuously looks back on what he’s done leaving him to dwell in his mistakes for having an affair on Elizabeth which leaves her doubting with disappointment being unable to forgive him.

John Proctor’s response to the witch trials was in anger as the people who closely knew would be getting arrested and setup for trial, however he took action after finding out that Elizabeth was to be placed on trial leading him to take every type of action whether it would put other people in danger or not, as long as he knew it was a possibility to attempt in freeing her from the trials of the court.
The actions of John Proctor lead everyone who signed or united with him in order of writing a petition with the following signed names leading them all to being put on trial for assisting a witch whether they were or weren’t a witch.

The court’s reputation was rather high therefore it was quite impossible to reason with the Judge leading yourself to a deeper hole or even having your own words turned against you which is what happened to Proctor in the end sentencing himself to having his name signed and used in order of his freedom yet at the price of his name and reputation for who he is and was. In the end of his actions of attempt to save those who he knew lead him to finally realising that the truth of being forgiven by was to confess the truth which he has been holding back for a long time until he finally mentions all of it in the court which eventually then he considered to rip up the piece of paper.

The research I’ve done into the Salem days around 1692 helped me to develop on how people thought or would attempt to fit in through any means such as accusing someone they’ve known if you was to be the slightest of accused or suspected in attempt or recovering yourself from being arrested or interrogated for the trials, people would mainly think about themselves and families and that it was very important to show up for the church as a Christian consistently whilst knowing your ten commandments.

If you’d be accused of witchcraft or of being in the assistance of a witch and you never went to the church and wasn’t that known you’d be considered to be someone who would likely get accused and that people, this helped me develop someone who would be quite religiously attached to what the bible and religion states therefore it being quite an isolated population leading to very strict rules.

I found out by doing further research that The Crucible was inspired by the McCarthy witch trial events which was based around when McCarthy came into power and started targeting people for communism reasons or whoever went against what he considered right would be classed as a communist.
Reference: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Crucible

For my Crucible context, I decided to highlight and break down certain parts to find out where they was located at the time and what the life style was around that current event within that moment.

I found out that they’re living up in Massachusetts since they started talking about It and that the place was a very small isolated village for where they all relayed each beliefs and path choices on some sort of religious view that the god and church/court would lead them forwards, therefore no matter what was right or wrong that the court would always consider themselves to be the speakers of god.

I found out from watching The Crucible Performance on Digital Theatre as well reading the script over by breaking down certain acts that there’s several different synopsis as well theories of the outcome such as a couple being that the group of girls in end either faked the whole act of being possessed by some kind of demon to get themselves out of trouble.

I have also found out that certain parts of the script would be rather calm when talking to each other and that the movement was mainly still unless It had meaning which most of the time It was just through eye contact; The use of eye contact as well transitioning from other performances was rather incredible as I was able to image different ways of staging certain parts such as the Act with the Court or the hanging which others used by adjusting the seating positions of the audience through placement around the hanging as If they was a part of It.