@RArmitage_US "Merde" is my preference. Thanks for good thoughts all.

Best wishes to the director, cast, and crew of The Crucible at The Old Vic!

So much positive energy from so many fans has been going out to all of you, and of course, to Richard Armitage, and I only feel it increasing as the first night of previews approaches. All over the web, fans are posting about their excitement and their journeys to the theater and their hopes for you. Probably you still have stuff to work out and not everything will go as planned, but I wish you all the best on your way to the official opening — may any queasiness you feel turn to pure energy as you sense the eagerness of the assembled audiences to see what you have to show. You’ve all worked so hard together to come to this moment with something intriguing to share with us, and I hope Saturday night is the next phase of many new experiences, provocative discoveries, and, of course, rewards for all of your labor. I have no right to be proud of anything Richard Armitage does, no special connection, but I am proud, nonetheless, and in the connection I feel I sense a crackling bonfire, waiting to explode.

Best wishes, Mr. Armitage, to you and your colleagues. Hals und Beinbruch!

The Crucible, London

At the turn of the millennium the National Theatre asked critics to name their top 10 best English-language plays of the 20th century. Arthur Miller’s Death Of A Salesman was in there, and while I also chose a Miller play, I went for The Crucible. Done well, it is a shattering theatrical experience, tackling themes of paranoia, injustice, lies and intolerance, told through the hysteria and superstition of the Salem witch trials of 1692. Miller, of course, was targeting the McCarthy witchhunts in Hollywood after the second world war and the rooting out of suspected communists by the House Un-American Activities Committee. Played in the round, Yaël Farber’s new production stars Spooks and Hobbit actor Richard Armitage as the tormented John Proctor.

Old Vic, SE1, Sat to 13 Sep

Thinking of #RichardArmitage’s big night tonight and all #TheCrucible cast and crew. Be brilliant and shine @oldvictheatre