- The Crucible by Arthur Miller. An Exit 22 production directed by Stuart Aikins. Performances Feb. 17 at 8 p.m. and Feb. 18 at 2 and 8 p.m.

STUART Aikins admits the characters in the new show he's directing are all doomed.

But that's part of the drama of The Crucible, a play in which the lead character is deceitful, the townsfolk are lying hypocrites, and as Aikins suggests with a laugh, "Everybody has to die."

It has been just a few months since Aikins last directed a production at the Centre for Performing Arts at Capilano University. He staged The Hobbit there in November 2011.

However, unlike that show's protagonist, Bilbo Baggins, who eventually gives up a magical ring that may corrupt him, The Crucible's Abigail Williams, is decidedly unredeemable. The teenager, who sparks the witchhunt at the centre of the storm in Arthur Miller's play, is inspired by a real-life child whose "fits" set in motion events leading to what is commonly referred to as the Salem witch trials in 1692.

"Abigail is not the hero in the end," explains Aikins of the play's main character. "She's not a saviour in any way. She's righteous in what she does, but she manipulates. She's a good manipulator, but she learns that manipulation from other people en route."

Although the play is reportedly Miller's comment on McCarthyism, Aikins says the themes are still relevant to a present-day audience.

"The bottom line of it is it's all about how anybody in a position of power uses fear to progress their own agenda. That's really all it is," he says. "It's not any different then as it is now, so that's why it strikes me that it's such a wonderful piece."

Since it was written in the early 1950s, The Crucible has experienced many interpretations on the stage and in film, but its familiarity is part of its appeal says Aikins.

"It's such a monumentally iconic piece," he notes. "Who doesn't know the story of The Crucible? And that's the great thing about it is that you walk into those circumstances, and the audience knows that the girls are lying and that this is all about the vengeance of a child, but what you get to see is the drama that unfolds around it."

Hiding behind a fantastic façade allows the characters to be outwardly invested in their own agendas.

"Because they're protected under the guise of something as wild and as completely dramatic as witches, they don't have to be subtle about what appears to be their intentions," explains Aikins.

The heightened drama in the play means Aikins doesn't have to try to make the show something different than it is to appeal to an audience that has probably already heard the story.

"It is already interesting, and I think that if you allow the actual script, the dialogue, to happen properly so that the audience understands everything that's going on, then they get all these wonderful points. They see these revelations. They see what's happening. They see how foolish these people are. There's quite a bit of laughter in the play because you see these people behave and you realize these people are foolish," he says, explaining the actors also have a hand in shaping the production.

"As any good director will tell you, you aren't going to know what the piece is going to look like until the actors find it. So you can only guide them at the beginning towards something, and then what they find and what they bring is what you build on."

Aikins points to the performance of actor Jessica Mayhew in the role of Abigail.

"Her vision of her sexual power as a 19-year-old girl is very different than what I might think is in the script. And if she's going to reach for something that she understands it's got to come from there," he says of what Mayhew has brought to the role. "It's a very tough Abigail. She's very strong and she's very willful, and you know right off the top that she's an angry, vengeful child."

Bringing out the best of actors is nothing new to Aikins, who is widely known as a prominent casting director. For the past 35 years, he has worked on numerous well-known television shows and films, including Unforgiven and Legends of the Fall. Since 2007, the Emmy-nominated Aikins has taught an acting master class at Capilano University. He is also the faculty co-ordinator for the theatre department. He has a master's degree in directing, and has directed numerous stage productions throughout his career.

"There's really not a lot of difference in how I approach the work," says Aikins of his two careers. "It's all to do with focus and your use of energy that makes the difference between whether you're on camera or you're on stage."

Although his connection with actors in a casting session is minimal compared to the weeks he spends with a stage cast, Aikins says in both arenas he is directing to get the best performances out of actors. Despite the similarities, however, Aikins has no desire to cross skills and direct a film or television show.

"Even though it is a director's medium, it's too technical a medium," he says, adding he likes the theatricality of a stage production. "In television, and more and more in film, if you want something to happen it's generated for you on a computer. So there's no imagination required, and there's so much imagination required in any kind of theatrical piece."

After years of experience in a fickle and highly subjective industry, Aikins says he measures success by his own personal markers and not box office returns.

"Whether you're doing a play or a production, it's just what you walk away from it with," he says. "It's nothing to do with size or the talent involved with it. It's how you've brought actors from one place to another, and I think for me this has been an incredibly successful and wonderful experience."

He also mentions his assistant director, P. Lynn Johnson, as a source of great support on this show.

"I think between the two of us we've brought these actors a huge long way and that growth is apparent on the stage," says Aikens. "I know that some people might be daunted by the fact that it's a three-hour show, but the bottom line is it's three hours that they will absolutely enjoy. It will go by like crazy."

The Crucible is at Capilano University's Centre for Performing Arts Feb. 15-18. Tickets: $22/$14/$8.

rduane@nsnews.com