A new production touring out of Scottish cities and into more rural communities sees a company composed of both professional and amateur actors, encouraging and appreciating the already thriving amateur theatre scene in Scotland. It is to their delight that these casts, of which there are several, get to perform the excellent The Crucible in their own communities.

Arthur Miller wrote The Crucible in response to the anti-communist witch hunts of 1950's America . The play's injustices centre on the Witch Trials that took place in Salem , Massachusetts in 1692 and the community where law is created by the church and anybody's business is everyone's concern.

Aside from the company membership there seems nothing extraordinary about this production from the National Theatre of Scotland and TAG Theatre Company. It is difficult to tell which actors are professional and which are amateur although this may not seem as big a compliment to the community participants as it may first appear: Some of the professional actors produce stilted or unconvincing performances which are particularly disappointing considering this is a production from our new National Theatre.

Guy Hollands' direction guides us through the classic text without adding specific political or polemic references but his direction takes nothing away from this excellent text either. The Crucible is a gut-wrenching play that will always have audiences enthralled, appalled by the onstage action and well worth a view.

Touring Scotland until 13 May