Director Wang Xiaoying revived the Chinese version of Arthur Miller's play The Crucible in Beijing. [Photo provided to China Daily]

The Crucible had such a faithful revival that not only was the cast pretty much the same as that of a decade ago－the last time it was presented in China－but one has a feeling that a significant portion of the audience were repeat attendees.

During the Jan 14 performance, the rounds of applause were timed so accurately that they seemed to come from a popular opera with old-chestnut arias.

Wang Xiaoying's staging of the Arthur Miller play opened in 2002, which was the inaugural show for the National Theater of China. The company was formed by combining China Youth Art Theater and Central Experimental Theater. Although the witch hunt of 1692 was by no means familiar to members of the Chinese public, it had been drummed home that Miller wrote it as an allegory of McCarthyism and the blacklisting of accused Communists in the US.

To any experienced theatergoer in China, or anyone steeped in the culture of innuendos and suggestions, the parallels with China's own recent past would not be lost. The scenes where Salem residents, all pious believers in God, were forced to accuse fellow townsfolk of siding with the Devil are powerful reminders of how far human nature would deviate from its origin of good intentions, and how difficult it is to maintain independence of thinking in the midst of a religion－or ideology-driven mania.