In Act II of The Crucible, before Reverend Hale enters, how do the stage directions impact the play's characters and the plot? If this act were...

The stage directions in Act II help us to understand not only how hard the Proctors are trying to move on with their lives but also how there is still quite a wedge between them.  For example, Elizabeth's attention to John while he eats his dinner shows how much she's trying to please him: she "blush[es] with pleasure" when he compliments the stew.  However, the fact that he had to season it himself before she entered the room shows he did not want to hurt her feelings by implying that it wasn't done to his liking.  As he's eating, "He gets up, goes to her, kisses her.  She receives it.  With a certain disappointment, he returns to the table."  John is clearly trying to make amends with his wife and show her that he loves her, but she seems to hold on to some negative feelings; either she's still angry with him or hurt (or both).  Such directions help us to quickly understand the emotional distance between the Proctors caused by John's affair with Abigail, even before their language shows us.  It does not take long for their mutual anger to bubble over and result in raised voices, Elizabeth "trembling" and John "turning on her."  

If this act were written in novel form, the amount of difference between the two would have a great deal to do with who narrates.  If we have a first-person narrator -- John or Elizabeth -- then the audience would get a lot of information about the thoughts and feelings of that character; we would hear his or her side in those thoughts and thus be more likely to side with them.  However, as it is now, I think we tend to sympathize with and fault them equally.  If we had a third-person limited narrator, the change would be similar.  On the other hand, if we had a third-person omniscient narrator, one who knows the thoughts and feelings of all the characters, I would anticipate an onslaught of information from both characters -- their thoughts and feelings must be wild and scattered and coming quickly -- and so this would lengthen the narrative and slow down the pace of the story, which is not desirable in a scene like this that builds tension for the audience.