Arthur Miller's darkly moral play The Crucible is refreshed by an imaginative approach in Canberra Repertory's production. Anyone expecting box sets depicting the spartan interiors of Puritan homes and meeting houses and jail cells in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692 will instead find the full width and a good deal of the depth of Theatre 3's stage taken up with a striking metaphorical landscape of twisted trees and darkened spaces. And the piece begins by showing rather than telling about the discovery of the girls of Salem dancing in ungodly fashion in the woods.

Events move rapidly with the arrival of Reverend Hale (Duncan Driver), who only really looks for an explanation that includes the Devil. Soon there's no place for the common sense of Rebecca Nurse (Liz Bradley) or John Proctor (Duncan Ley). Personal grievances and grief translate into accusations. Abigail Williams (Zoe Priest), rejected by Proctor after a brief affair, turns out to be an expert at orchestrating the hysteria of the girls who danced and the witch trials begin.

Before long, Proctor's wife Elizabeth (Lexi Sekuless) is accused and Proctor and the whole society of Salem find themselves in a courtroom struggle where logic and truth are gone as the life-or-death proceedings under judges Hathorne (Sam Hannan-Morrow) and Danforth (Mark Bunnett) unfold. It's a grim but compelling play about moral choices.

Some elements such as the dancing in the woods and the relationship between Proctor and Abigail are spelled out more than they would have been when the play was first done. The use made of the hair confining Puritan caps of the women can be uncertain. Abigail's strikingly blonde hair is always visible, when revealing it only at key moments might have more impact. Rebecca Nurse at one point has her face obscured with a strange mob cap and Elizabeth Proctor does not seem to wear one at all.

But director Jordan Best has clearly and powerfully concentrated on the ensemble and the results, supported by Michael Sparks' evocative set, Kelly McGannon's spare lighting design and Jordan and Peter Best's understated sound design, are both striking and moving.

The young women group together and Abigail's mesmerising face is suddenly the focus. The three honest men of Salem, Giles Corey (David Bennett), Francis Nurse (Geoffrey Borny) and John Proctor stand against the nonsense of the accusations only to be swept away by the powerful illogicality of the court proceedings. There's a poignant image of Borny's Nurse, standing for a moment alone and bewildered at the end of the trial. Bennett, too, is particularly affecting as perpetual litigant Corey, realising too late that this court is not to be moved and that he has unwittingly put his wife in peril by musing on her reading of books.

Despite having a rather impenetrable accent at times, in a play where listening to Miller's words is surely one of the chief pleasures, Ley's John Proctor is genial, honest and ultimately moving. And as Elizabeth, Sekuless is beautifully understated and restrained, creating a quiet moral core for a piece that still has so much to say to audiences. See it.