THE CRUCIBLE

dialogue between theatre

script and screenplay

Comparative Study by:

Youcef Debbihi

Comparative Study by:Youcef Debbihi

THE CRUCIBLE dialogue between theatre script and screenplay 2

INTRODICTION
Many of our favorite screenwriters started out as playwrights: Aaron Sorkin (A Few
Good Men, The Social Network), David Mamet (Glengarry Glen Ross, American
Buffalo), and Mike Leigh (Happy-Go-Lucky, Secrets & Lies), to name a few.

Their successful transition from theater to film makes sense, considering in both
theater and film, writers create stories to be told by actors and watched by an
audience.

But a great play doesn’t necessarily make a great movie and vice versa. In fact,
some stories are really meant to be told by actors live on stage, while other stories
are only achievable on film. To understand why, we need to look at the differences
between the dialogue of these two arts.

terminology:
A screenplay: is a form of narration in which the movements, actions,
expressions and dialogue of the characters are described in a certain format.
Visual or cinematographic cues may be given, as well as scene descriptions and
scene changes.

A play or drama script: is the story that has been written for actors to perform,
with the term ‹play› relating to a theatrical performance. People who write them
are called Playwrights,

a screenwriter or playwright lays out their vision and

provides the director, designers, and actors with a roadmap
for a film or stage production.
THE CRUCIBLE dialogue between theatre script and screenplay 3

SCENE STUDY #1: THE OPENING

SCENE OF THE CRUCIBLE
Act One (subtitled ‘an overture‘) of the play opens in a bedroom in Reverend Samuel
Parris‘ house, there is a description of the room in the stage directions, then there is a
long description of Reverend Parris (throughout the play Miller frequently describes
each of the main characters quite thoroughly which interrupts the events of the
play), a shorter description of his slave Tituba and then various scenes of dialogue
between the townsfolk (Ann Putnam, Thomas Putnam, Mary Warren, John Proctor,
Abigail Williams, Mercy Lewis, Susanna Walcott, Rebecca Nurse, Giles Corey and
finally John Hale) about his daughter Betty Parris who is ill and the supernatural
causes of her illness.

The first act introduces most of the characters and also the premise: the supernatural
possession of some of the girls in the town (for example Betty and Tituba).

The rhythm of the first act is given by the dialogue which is interspersed with
descriptions of the characters, this helps divide up the action as there are no clear-
cut scenes indicated. The entirety of the first act takes place in Reverend Parris‘
house.

The first scene can be seen as the discussion between Reverend Parris, Tituba,
Abigail Williams, Susanna Walcott and the Putnams. The arrival of the Putnams
brings about a description of Thomas Putnam and what I believe to be the next
scene.

It is with this first scene that the film differs from the play. Indeed, in the film the events
that transpire in Reverend Parris‘ home take place onscreen and the dialogue and
the action are very similar; however the first five minutes of the film differ greatly
from the play as they take place in the forest.

the part of the forest is discussed in the first scene of the play between Abigail and
Reverend Parris yet it is never shown. It is not shown in the play for various reasons,
one reason probably being that it is very hard to show a forest onstage (both in
terms of space and in terms of budget), though Shakespeare did it frequently in
THE CRUCIBLE dialogue between theatre script and screenplay 4

his plays. Another reason is probably nudity, you couldn‘t show the same thing
onstage or onscreen in the 1950s as you could in the 1990s, in the film some of
the girls –notably Mercy Lewis- dance naked in the forest. In the play this is left to
the spectator to imagine. In the film, Abigail wakes her cousin Betty and along with
a dozen other girls (including Mercy Lewis, Joanna Preston, Ruth Putnam, Mary
Warren and Hannah Brown) they go into the forest at night to meet Tituba so that
they can cast love spells on various men in the village. Most of the girls start to
dance, until they are caught by Reverend Parris who comes face to face with his
daughter and his niece. It then cuts to the next day and the events of the film more
closely follow those of the play. In the foreword to the screenplay34, director Nicolas
Hytner says of this opening scene:

It was the first five minutes of the film which provided maybe the most interesting
challenge. We worked from the premise that the source of the girls‘ destructive
energy is their emergent sexuality, so the entire opening is designed to uncork the
bottle of desire – to make flesh what in the play is past and done, referred to only
[...] It might have been obvious to open the movie with images of Puritan gravity,
and to create a context for the sensual release of the night in the forest, it seemed
more dangerous to work the other way round –to taste the forbidden fruit before
we enter what purports to be Eden
Nicolas Hytner.
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SCENE STUDY #2:

BETTY PARRIS’ BEDROOM.
SCREENPLAY:

14. INT. DAY. BETTY PARRIS’ BEDROOM.

PARRIS watches over BETTY still asleep in bed. ABIGAIL turns from the
window.

ABIGAIL: Uncle? Perhaps you ought to go down and tell people . . .

PARRIS: And what shall I tell them? That my daughter and my niece I
discovered dancing like heathen in the forest?

ABIGAIL: We did dance, and let me be whipped if I must be, but they’re
talking of witchcraft. Betty’s not witched.

PARRIS: Were you conjuring spirits in the forest? I want the truth now.

ABIGAIL: We never conjured spirits.

PARRIS: Now hear me, child. You must know that there is a faction in the
church sworn to drive me from my pulpit . . .

ABIGAIL: Oh, I know that, sir.

PARRIS: And they will destroy me now if my house turns out to be the
center of some obscene practice! Now I saw someone naked running
through the trees.

ABIGAIL: No one was . . .

PARRIS: (Slapping her hard across the cheek) Don’t lie to me, I saw it!
THE CRUCIBLE dialogue between theatre script and screenplay 6

ABIGAIL: . . . It were only sport, Uncle!

PARRIS: (Pointing down at BETTY)

You call this sport! She cannot wake! (ABIGAIL clamps shut; he shifts his
tack.) Now give me upright answer . . . Your name in the town . . . is entirely
white, is it not?
ABIGAIL: There be no blush about my name, sir!

PARRIS: (Taking courage in hand) Why did Goody Proctor discharge you
from her service? ABIGAIL: (In full confrontation . . . wild) Because I
refused to be her slave!

PARRIS: (With difficulty) I have heard said that John Proctor . . . John
Proctor and you . . .

ABIGAIL: My name is good in the village. Elizabeth Proctor is an envious,

gossiping liar!
The hubbub outside increases. TITUBA appears in the stairway. TITUBA:
Mr. Parris, them asking for you. You must come down, sir.

PARRIS leaves hurriedly. TITUBA rushes to BETTY’s side to comfort her.

TITUBA: Betty, my sweet, wake up. Wake up, Betty.
ABIGAIL: (Shoving TITUBA out of the way) Betty . . . stop this now!! I
know you hear me . . . Wake up, now!!
(Yells into her face) Betty!
In open fearful herself, she releases BETTY, who falls back, limp. PARRIS
is heard
offscreen, outside, trying to calm the curious and frightened townsfolk.

15. EXT. DAY. FIELD ON JOHN PROCTOR’S FARM.

JOHN PROCTOR is scything wheat. His two SONS are working nearby.

ELIZABETH, his wife, is approaching across the field; from twenty yards off
she indicates their house and calls . . .

ELIZABETH: John! Giles and Martha are here!

He starts toward her.
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Theatre play:
Abigail: Uncle, we did dance; let you tell them I confessed it - and I’ll be
whipped if I must be. But they’re speakin’ of witchcra

Parris: Abigail, I cannot go before the congregation when I know you have not
opened with me. What did you do with her in the forest?

Abigail: We did dance, uncle, and when you leaped out of the bush so
suddenly, Betty was frightened and then she fainted. And there’s the whole of
it.

Parris: Child. Sit you down. Abigail: I would never hurt Betty. I love her dearly.

Parris: Now look you, child, your punishment will come in its time. But if you
trafficked with spirits in the forest I must know it now, for surely my enemies
will, and they will ruin me with it.
Abigail: But we never conjured spirits.
Parris: Then why can she not move herself since midnight? This child is
desperate! It must come out - my enemies will bring it out. Let me know what
you done there.

Abigail, do you understand that I have many enemies?

Abigail: I have heard of it, uncle.

Parris: There is a faction that is sworn to drive me from my pulpit. Do you

understand that? Abigail: I think so, sir.

Parris: Now then, in the midst of such disruption, my own household is

discovered to be the very center of some obscene practice. Abominations are
done in the forest -
Abigail: It were sport, uncle!

Parris: You call this sport? Abigail, if you know something that may help the
doctor, for God’s sake tell it to me. I saw Tituba waving her arms over the fire
when I came on you. Why was she doing that? And I heard a screeching and
gibberish coming from her mouth. She were swaying like a dumb beast over
that fire!

Abigail: She always sings her Barbados songs, and we dance.

Parris: I cannot blink what I saw, Abigail, for my enemies will not blink it. I saw
THE CRUCIBLE dialogue between theatre script and screenplay 8

a dress lying on the grass. Abigail: A dress?

Parris: Aye, a dress. And I thought I saw - someone naked running through the
trees!

Abigail: No one was naked! You mistake yourself, uncle!

Parris: I saw it! Now tell me true, Abigail. And I pray you feel the weight of
truth upon you, for now my ministry’s at stake, my ministry and perhaps your
cousin’s life. Whatever abomination you have done, give me all of it now, for I
dare not be taken unaware when I go before them down there.

Abigail: There is nothin’ more. I swear it, uncle.

Parris: Abigail, I have sought here three long years to bend these stiff-necked
people to me, and now, just now when some good respect is rising for me in
the parish, you compromise my very character. I have given you a home, child,
I have put clothes upon your back - now give me upright answer. Your name in
the town - it is entirely white, is it not?

Abigail: Why, I am sure it is, sir. There be no blush about my name.

Parris: Abigail, is there any other cause than you have told me, for your being
discharged from Goody Proctor’s service? I have heard it said, and I tell you as
I
heard it, that she comes so rarely to the church this year for she will not sit so
close to something soiled. What signified that remark?

Abigail: She hates me, uncle, she must, for I would not be her slave. It’s a
bitter
woman, a lying, cold, sniveling woman, and I will not work for such a woman!
Parris: She may be. And yet it has troubled me that you are now seven month
out of their house, and in all this time no other family has ever called for your
service.

Abigail: They want slaves, not such as I. Let them send to Barbados for that. I
will not black my face for any of them! Do you begrudge my bed, uncle?

Parris: No - no.

Abigail: My name is good in the village! I will not have it said my name is
soiled!
Goody Proctor is a gossiping liar!
Enter Mrs. Ann Putnam. She is a twisted soul of forty-five, a death-ridden
woman, haunted by dreams.
THE CRUCIBLE dialogue between theatre script and screenplay 9

CONCLUSION
1 film dialogue carries less story weight than theatre dia-
logue

2 film dialogue still a major part of scene construction

As we have seen in the scenes studied, there are some added scenes to the script,
but aside from a few changes the script remains quite faithful to the play –perhaps
a consequence of Arthur Miller adapting the play.

There are no significant differences in plot and one gets the impression that the
film is quite a faithful adaptation of the book.
Hytner says:

much of the screenplay reproduces dialogue from the play more or less exactly,
even if the physical context is changed [...] matching the image to the word
here required only minimal textual amendment
Nicolas Hytner .