R.H. Thomson recasts The Crucible for the age of the niqab debate

"My friends, we beat fear with hope." With those words, Canada's newly elected Prime Minister Justin Trudeau celebrated his victory Monday night, concluding his acceptance speech in Montreal. 

Fear is a topic that R. H. Thomson has been considering for some time. The veteran actor is familiar to many Canadians — whether from Road to Avonlea or stage work around the country, from from the Stratford Festival to Victoria's Belfry Theatre to the National Arts Centre. This fall he's directing Theatre Calgary's production of Arthur Miller's The Crucible. (It runs at the city's Max Bell Centre to November 8.)

If a terrorist group makes Canadians afraid, they have power over us. If a politician evokes fear, they're looking to gain power. I don't respect either of those.- R.H. Thomson

Fear is the real villain of the play, written during the height of McCarthy era paranoia — and telling the story of America's other infamous witch-hunt, the Salem trials of the 1690s. 

The actor, who was recently given the Governor General's Performing Arts Award for Lifetime Achievement, spoke with CBC Arts the Friday before Canadians went to the polls.

"Why is the fear card so prevalent in national politics?" Thomson asks. "Never before in a national election have I seen fear used in such a reprehensible way. Fear of Isis. Fear of Islamic extremism. Fear of people in niqabs. Fear of the other.

"When you play the fear card, you separate people, you divide. And if you can make people afraid, you have power," says Thomson.

"If a terrorist group makes Canadians afraid, they have power over us. They have a degree of power. If a politician evokes fear, they're looking to gain power. I don't respect either of those."

Fear is what makes the Puritans of The Crucible become a fanatic sect. It's what makes them rat out their friends, hang innocents — and ultimately ruin their community. Yeah, pardon the spoiler there. But after 60 years, the story should be familiar.

"Didn't we all have to study it in high school?" Thomson asks, trying to recall when he first encountered this signature Miller work. "I saw films of it when I was younger, that's all. And it remained a dusty chestnut from the past." The play might be old, but the story isn't. And 60 years after The Crucible was written, a play reflecting on American witch-hunts suddenly finds its relevance to a Canadian audience has sharpened.

When he accepted the offer to direct the show for Theatre Calgary, Thomson enjoyed a deep reading of the piece for the first time.

"Looking at [The Crucible], one is reminded of the extreme power of Miller's writing, Thomson says. "Each [work] is a powerful dialectic about American life at a certain point. ... We think 'Oh, he's this guy who wrote these classical plays from back in the day in the 1950s. He's far more than that."

The Crucible's underlying argument? Fear's effect on sense and reason. And that's a topic that's always relevant, no matter the current events.

"They're called classics not just because they're old," says Thomson. "They're called classic because they walk this deep territory of the human psyche and human emotion and the human spirit. Few playwrights will walk out into the deep part, and Miller walks the deep part."

Watch a preview of Theatre Calgary's production of The Crucible:

The Crucible. Featuring Karl H. Sine, Claire Armstrong. Written by Arthur Miller. Directed by R.H. Thomson. Presented by Theatre Calgary. To November 8. Max Bell Theatre, Calgary. www.theatrecalgary.com