John Proctor is the Villain is a brilliantly cathartic riff on The Crucible – review

John Proctor is the Villain is a thrilling teenage-girl take on The Crucible

The title of John Proctor is the Villain is immediately grating. Of course Proctor, from Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, is awful; he seduces a teenager and then casts her out as a “whore”; he’s a bad husband, a bad master, a fairly average citizen of Salem. But he admits his sins and dies! What more do you want? Kimberly Belflower’s play puts Proctor, Salem and 1690s, 1950s and 2010s misogyny under the microscope. John Proctor Is the Villain was …

John Proctor is the Villain is a brilliantly cathartic riff on The Crucible – review

Kimberly Belflower’s acclaimed play is brought to London’s Royal Court Theatre with rousing, timely results

John Proctor is the Villain ★★★★★

John Proctor is The Villain does exactly what it says on the tin: questions the narrative. If you don’t know, John Proctor is assumed to be the ‘tragic hero’ of The Crucible, but a group of teenage girls have other perspectives to share. The show has been greatly revered in the States. First written in 2017, it had its first run at The Farm Theatre, Washington D.C., in 2022, eventually heading to Broadway in 2025 for an extended run. Now, John P…

Review: ‘John Proctor is the Villain’ at the Royal Court Theatre

The Lorde-loving, #MeToo-interrogating high school-set Broadway smash is a total blast