TIMELESS plays change their meaning as the world moves on and attitudes shift.

Arthur Miller’s enduring work The Crucible, set during the 17th-century witch trials in Salem, Massachusetts was inspired by the US paranoia about communists whipped up during McCarthyism in the 1950s. 

When presented at Cardiff’s New Theatre, the powerful piece seemed more relevant than ever in these post-truth times of political scapegoating and finger-pointing.

A culture of fearmongering saw individual Salem residents accuse each other of witchcraft, mainly to deflect suspicion from themselves. 

Opportunistic Abigail Williams, played by Lucy Keirl, exploits this atmosphere of collective hysteria to hit back at a former lover and his wife. Soon many are being sentenced to death as tensions mount.

As the Puritan powers that be redefine what truth is, villagers are rendered voiceless when protesting their innocence.

Victoria Yeates, as the accused Elizabeth Proctor, crumbled before church authority figures in gripping trial scenes, where the very idea of truth became wholly subjective.

Minimalist staging made sudden lighting-flash and thunder-clap effects at key moments all the more alarming.

The imposing Judge Danforth, portrayed by Jonathan Tafler, said: "A person is either with this court or he must be counted against it, there be no road between."

Now in this era of political witch hunts and so-called "alternative facts", the play’s allegory rings true once more.

The Crucible runs at The New Theatre until Saturday.

Declan Harte