by House of the Dragon star Milly Alcock will make her West End debut in June, starring in Lyndsey Turner’s acclaimed retelling of Arthur Miller’s The Crucible.
“To say it was a dream come true to work on such an iconic play with such an illustrious theater company is an understatement,” said Alcock. “I’m beyond thrilled.”
Alcock will play the orphan Abigail, one of the play’s main characters. Further castings are yet to be announced.
The 1953 play, which is now regarded as an American classic, is loosely based on the 17th-century Salem witch trials. Abigail is the lead member of a group of girls who accuse their village members of witchcraft to distract from the fact that they themselves dabble in magic.
Things get even darker when Abigail takes revenge on the man she’s been having an affair with by hurling witchcraft accusations at his wife.
This is the second performance of the acclaimed National Theater production by award-winning director Lyndsey Turner. When Turner’s production first came out last fall, The Standard loved it.
“Arthur Miller’s 1953 study of public defamation and herd behavior seems recently relevant to Lyndsey Turner’s output,” said Nick Curtis. “The game remains a bona fide classic; always the same, always new. And Turner’s production hits us with the ruthless and relentless intent of a bulldozer.
Turner, the third female director in history to receive an Olivier Award (for the Royal Opera House’s Chimerica in 2014), has made five more plays with the National Theater and has made plays with the Royal Shakespeare Company, and for the West End and Broadway .
She’s supported by a stellar team: Tony Award winner Es Devlin will re-design the set as she did in the fall, and Catherine Fay is on board as costume designer – her credits include designing for the plays Semele, The Return of Ulysses and Owen Wingrave for Opera Collective Ireland and the Translations, Portia Coughlan, iGirl, Walls and Windows production.
Award-winning lighting designer Tim Lutkin is also on board as are sound designer Tingying Dong, sound designer Christopher Shutt, and Grammy- and Pulitzer-winning composer and arranger Caroline Shaw.
The 22-year-old Alcock is best known for starring in HBO’s Game of Thrones spin-off series, House of the Dragon, for which she was nominated for a Critics’ Choice Award. She recently starred in the Australian comedy Upright opposite Tim Minchin.
The Crucible will run from 7 June to 2 September 2023 at the Gielgud Theatre; nationaltheatre.org.uk
