All My Sons is one of Arthur Miller‘s most enduring plays. Written in 1946 in the long shadow of World War II, it introduces us to the Keller family and an open secret set to rip them apart.
Director Ivo van Hove is known for his avant garde, experimental theatre productions, including two previous Miller plays (The Crucible and A View from the Bridge) and Network, which also starred Bryan Cranston.
In previous productions of All My Sons seen in London, the house, picket fence and porch have been the focal point. Here, it is a large fallen tree that provides the symbolism of memory and crisis, plus the aftermath of a storm.
Jan Versweyveld‘s scenic and lighting design is deeply atmospheric and without fuss. The tree, a tall back wall of panels, a doorway, a scattering of roses. A large circle allows both lighting changes and the introduction of key characters.
In van Hove’s vision, the tension builds from the first striking scene, with the mother (Marianne Jean-Baptiste) and the tree. It also allows for the pivotal arrival of one supporting character as the house lights lift.
The family – father Joe (Cranston), mother Kate, son Chris (Paapa Essiedu) are missing lost son Larry, presumed dead in conflict. When ‘Larry’s girl’ Annie Deever (Hayley Squires) comes to stay, will the truth be revealed?
Miller’s play slowly coaxes out the Deevers’s parallel tale, with Ann and George (Tom Glynn-Carney) having to leave town when their father (and Joe) were imprisoned for providing defective airplane parts to the military.
While Joe was exonerated and welcomed back into his card-playing and jocular society, Steve Deever, (‘a little man’, in Joe’s words) languishes, sick and bitter, in prison.
In All My Sons, the American Dream is sour, and capitalism is corrosive. Adding in Tom Gibbons’s exquisite sound design to the mix, plus transition music by Johnny Cash and Leonard Cohen, van Hove builds the story so carefully that there is barely room for the audience to breathe.
I’ve seen productions of the play before on stage and screen. This was one that kept me hooked throughout – at 2hr 15 without interval, no mean feat – and by the end, deeply shaken and moved.
That Cranston, Jean-Baptiste, and Essiedu are on top form is hard to ignore. They convince as a tight family unit, while Jean-Baptiste’s trajectory is particularly affecting. A late scene between father and son is almost too painful to witness.
There are colourful characters on the periphery, too, with neighbouring couples the Baylisses and the Lubeys, plus a young boy who idolises Joe Keller as the centre of justice in the town.
Hands down the best production I have seen of this play, which retains its relevance after 80 years.
5 stars.
All My Sons is at the Wyndham’s Theatre until 7 Mar 2006. Tickets here and on other sites.
Image credit: Jan Versweyveld