A heart-wrenchingly powerful performance of Arthur Miller’s The Crucible is being given this week by the Oxford Theatre Guild. The play tells the true story of how young girls living in the puritanical society of America in 1692 are caught dancing in a forest and accused of witchcraft. Hysterical with fear, they accuse others of being devils in order to shift the blame away from themselves.

Cold, piteous officials take over, believe their allegations, then try to execute scores of innocent people suspected of being witches. We see this unfold through the eyes of John Proctor. His wife is accused of witchcraft out of pure spite; his attempts to save her are thwarted, and his life is shattered forever.

Alexander Rogers, who plays Proctor, has a strong stage presence and brings the character to life with both fervour and tenderness. His hard-hitting performance evokes Proctor’s raw anger and his intense torment.

He and Sophie Ruggiero, who plays his wife Elizabeth, effectively portray the tensions of their domestic life together and how their loyalty to each other pulls them apart and, ironically, away from the truth.

There are dynamic performances from many other members of the cast. The unbalanced tendencies of Abigail Williams, who starts wildly accusing other women of witchcraft, is shown brilliantly by Ailsa Joy. Andrew Whiffin is excellent as the unfeeling Deputy Governor Danforth, utterly unable to have any common sense or mercy, showing as he eloquently puts it “an ocean of tears will not melt statutes”.

The Oxford Theatre Guild, though an amateur company, has put on a very professional production. Dim lighting recreates the dingy conditions of the prison cells and during the execution scene darkness leaves the actual hanging to the audience’s imagination. Deep ‘voice of God’ style music is used occasionally for dramatic effect.

The play is widely thought of as being written by Miller as a parallel to the victimisation of the innocent by Senator Joe McCarthy during the Cold War. However, the story still has relevance today.

When talking about the witchcraft court one character says: “You are with us; if you are not with us you are against us.” Three hundred and more years later the last American President, George Bush, echoed almost those very words, in reference to the War on Terror.

Sadly, it is not difficult to draw a comparison between the undemocratic but unimpeded authority of the Salem court and that of the secret or military courts that governments of many countries use to imprison people. Of course, the now dismantled Guantanamo Bay comes to mind.

As well as being very moving, The Crucible certainly provides much food for thought.

The play continues until Saturday. Tel. 01865 305305 (www.oxfordplayhouse.com).