• Brief: create historically inspired props for Prospero Players‘ 2021 production of The Crucible, by Arthur Miller. These included ‘witch hunter’s books’ with era appropriate text and images, and a handmade poppet (doll).
• Context: Inspired by real events, The Crucible recounts the events of the 1690s witch-trials in Salem, then a frontier town in colonial Massachusetts. When a local child becomes ill, accusations of witchcraft spread, fueled by the testimony of the town’s young women.

Books:

The books are a personal prop of Reverend Hale, a minister who specializes in witches

To make these, I recycled damaged books, which I rebound in plain faux leather, to match the minimal aesthetic of the production. Into these I added a booklet of appropriate text and images to resemble books of the time.

I created two witch hunter’s guide, and a notebook for Reverend Hale.

Witch Hunters Guides

The illustrations are black marker, drawn to imitate line-work of traditional woodblock prints. They have less detail and more open shapes than real woodcuts, to be clearer for audiences to see. The text is a lino block print, carved with nonsense words. The font is based on text in the Malleus Malleficarum, a real witch hunting guide used at the time, published in 1486.

Hale’s Notebook

The third book is a re-imagining of Hale’s personal notebook, which the real Reverend Hale is said to have kept while in Salem. I included sketches of items that appeared in real life trials, including a poppet and a sample of lace. The text itself is scribble, but shaped to resemble hand writing from surviving trial documents.

Poppet

The poppet is the main piece of evidence used by character Abigail Williams to accuse her former employer of witchcraft.

To give it an authentic look and feel, I hand sewed the poppet from rough calico, and stuffed it with rags. The costume of the poppet resembles the costume of Abigail Williams, to create a direct visual connection

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