Winona Ryder and the girls get hysterical . The Crucible tells the story of what happened in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692, when 24 people were executed for witchery. The camera moves with the girls as they run through the forest, capturing their giddy excitement. For most of the girls, the ceremony they conduct, led by a Haitian slave, is nothing more than a girlish prank where they reveal the names of the men that they secretly love. She kills a chicken and rubs blood on her face.
Some girls scream in horror, others laugh, and others strip naked and begin to dance.
The girls scream and flee through the forest. Paul Scofield as Judge Danforth. Contrasted with the public spectacle of trials and executions, we also get the quieter personal moments in the Proctor household. Opening up the play makes the girls seem smaller, but also more real. The Crucible doesn't play these scenes for maximum melodramatic impact.