Reviewed by Tony Annicone

Trinity Rep’s second show, performed in repertory with “The Good John Procter,” is “Becky Nurse of Salem” by Sarah Ruhl, which is the better one of the two. Becky is a descendant of Rebecca Nurse from the Salem witch trials and was also a character in “The Crucible”. This Becky is plagued with a curse of bad luck that she needs to be exorcised so she can get on with her life. She is a poor 52-year-old grandmother who is raising her granddaughter and struggling to make ends meet. The cast sings “Sweet Children Mine,” and then we first meet Becky as a museum docent as she tells the “high school” audience the tales of witchcraft in the city and where Rebecca Nurse was hung either at what is now Dunkin Donuts or at Walgreen’s. She also drops some F-bombs in front of the nuns and is she is fired from her job. The audience follows her roller coaster journey from there to the end of the show, where we all learn the most important thing in life is to love and be loved. The audience leaped to their feet at the end of the extremely poignant and comic show, masterfully presented by director Curt Columbus and his extraordinary and talented seven-member cast. Brava to leading lady Angela Brazil on her breathtaking performance, who never left the stage in this two-hour and fifteen-minute show.

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