John Proctor is the Villain officially opened at the Booth Theatre on April 14, and it's already sparking major conversation (and not just about The Crucible). Set in a Georgia high school English class, this sharp, funny, and emotionally charged new play flips the script on who we call a hero - and why. Between teenage crushes, awkward sex ed, and a few juicy scandals, these students are done taking history at face value.

Written by emerging new playwright Kimberly Belflower and starring Stranger Things' Sadie Sink, what are the critics saying about the Gen Z fury fuelled show?

Critic Reviews of John Proctor Is The Villain

"Taymor's production is entirely sympathetic - to the characters and to the text. Though thrilling in its refusal to tamp down the show's sometimes anarchic spirit, it does not ignore the dangers of abandon. Sink's Shelby is beautifully positioned just at the spot where you can't tell the difference between impulse and illness. The other girls stratify at in-between altitudes, from Scott's firmly grounded Nell to Strazza's high-pitched Beth." - The New York Times

"There's a moment in the play featuring a song by Lorde that elicited in me a dizzy gasp, then an eye-roll, then gave way to a moment of catharsis. In one gesture, it brilliantly tied up the play's themes, aesthetics and narratives in a genuinely thrilling way, while getting me to consider a long-beloved favorite in a new light. John Proctor Is the Villain is much like that: a heady rush of glee, shock and understanding that takes you by surprise, and leaves you happy you came." - Theatreley

"Sink shines in using her physicality here. With more room for her and the other actors to play and relax, there's potential for this production to be even better. But despite its shortcomings, it's a stunner." - Theatermania

"John Proctor Is the Villain" is the best play of the season, but even more significantly, it is a feminist masterpiece sure to become one of the defining works of art from and about the #MeToo era." - Variety

"Forget the villain Belflower's play hits as hard as it does because at its heart, fighting their way through one hell of a junior year, are the kind of heroes we actually need." - Vulture

"But although themes and incidents from The Crucible reverberate throughout this work, you don't need to be an expert on Miller's drama to appreciate this one. Belflower's first Broadway play is a galvanizing accomplishment all on its own. Remember her name." - Time Out

"It's a testament to the subtle brilliance of Kimberly Belflower's writing and Danya Tamor's direction that you can hardly feel the 105-minute, no-intermission runtime of John Proctor Is the Villain." - The Hollywood Reporter

"Combined, John Proctor Is the Villain not only serves as a modern day recontextualization of the original play, but also a laugh-out-loud funny and deeply affecting examination of girlhood, feminism, the #MeToo movement, and the unstoppable power of female friendship. It is pure, heartbreaking perfection." - Entertainment Weekly

"I cannot overpraise the talented cast and the snappy production, which moves like a bullet train and ends with a rebellious "Presentation Day" dance that sends shivers down your spine and tears down your cheeks." - Observer

"I could be jaded about John Proctor is the Villain and nitpick how some major developments get revealed abruptly for plot's sake, how the male characters are broadly drawn archetypes known all too well in both fiction and reality: the charming predator, the obvious creep, the well-meaning dolt. But John Proctor seems to know that. It also knows it's a reclamation of age-old stories by intelligent, thoughtful young women whose views of themselves and others are nonetheless a work in progress." - New York Theatre Guide

"Sink does a wonderful job as the blunt-speaking Shelby, who has become an outcast among her friends, because she slept with the boyfriend of her best friend. She is reportedly the reason why this play wound up on Broadway her star power but it would be unfair to single her out without mentioning that best friend, Raelynn, portrayed by Amalia Yoo, the daughter of a preacher, who yearns to break out, and gets several delectable moments to do so. Fina Strazza is also fine as Beth Powell, a hilariously over-prepared student, as are Morgan Scott as newcomer Nell Shaw and Maggie Kuntz as Ivy Watkins." - New York Theater

"In the end, John Proctor Is the Villain doesn't feel like a show designed to goose youth-audience ticket sales; it feels like one that will engage and electrify a teenage audience, and plenty of adults too." - The Guardian

"The classroom has its own John Proctor, and believe me when I say his comeuppance provided merely through the survival and unity of several underage girls is among the most deeply satisfying scenes on Broadway this season." - Deadline

"A new reading of The Crucible becomes both scary and liberating. Just as John Proctor is shown to be not the hero of Miller's play (but rather, for Shelby, the much be-knighted Abigail Williams), so Mr. Smith is shown to be far from the supportive teacher we and the girls may have thought. From Lee's menace and temper to shoulder-rubbing memories of Ivy's "gross" dad, the evidence of patriarchal abuses in the everyday fabric of their lives become apparent to the young women." - The Daily Beast

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