John Proctor Is The Villain
25 March 2026
Royal Court Theatre
5.0 out of 5.0 stars
John Proctor is the Villain is currently running at the Royal Court Theatre until 25th April. The show is officially sold out, but there are a few ways to get tickets still, check the theatre’s website for more information on that.
Written by Kimberly Belflower, this play has been making waves recently. It explores a small group of students at a rural high school, studying The Crucible, a play about the witch trials of Salem. Especially the girls in the group are fascinated with the narrative, they study the characters and their circumstances to understand their motivations with the help of their young and charismatic teacher Carter Smith. But when one of the student’s father is accused of sexual assault, and another makes accusations of her own, the group gets shaken up and questions their beliefs.
The show starts quite slowly, allowing audiences to get to know the main characters before the narrative really gets going. The teenage girls are incredibly well written, with good variety between the different characters while maintaining a believable cohesion. They feel like authentic people, young women trying to find their place in the world and making sense of everything they’re confronted with in the process.
Drawing parallels between the girls in The Crucible and their own experience, the high school students develop their own ideas, their own readings on what happened back then, viewed from a thoroughly modern lens. Exposing the societal pressures young women both in the past and the present are confronted with, there are incredibly fascinating conversations between the teenagers. Difficult and challenging topics are handled with care without minimising them, giving a plucked-from-life feeling to the performance.
This play is an extraordinary journey, giving voice to adolescents and exploring topics most every woman will find familiar in one way or another. A powerful exploration of social dynamics and societal pressures, an absolute masterpiece of a play!
