All My Sons

Synopsis

Three years since the report of his disappearance in action, the Kellers are still waiting, hoping against hope for news of their son's return. Three years of waiting, and their younger son struggles to break the news to his mother and father that he is in love with the girl his brother left behind. Three lives are on hold, until they can finally accept that Laurie may never return. Events come to a head one evening, when Annie returns to her home town and forces the Keller family to confront their hidden past, their own culpability and the awful part they may have played in their son's demise. Powerful, passionate and frighteningly relevant, All My Sons, brought Arthur Miller his first major success as a playwright. This moving, tragic drama is a compelling tale of the ideological conflict between father and son, a merciless exposure of wartime profiteering and the American Dream.

Our Review:

9 August 2001

In my original review of this production when it first opened at the National's Cottesloe in July 2000, I admired both play and performance greatly but complained that the traverse staging, with the audience seated facing each other on two sides of the garden of the house that is viewed side-on, meant that there were inevitably many moments when actors had their backs to one or other side of the audience. As a result, key speeches and reactions were missed.

Now that the play has transferred to the larger Lyttelton, the production has been restaged and we observe it head-on, with the house straight ahead. This change alone refocuses the production substantially and for the better, to bring it into even closer focus. You may not be able to smell the grass anymore, but the pain of loss, lies and bereavement that are at the play's shattering heart are felt even more keenly than before when you can see it in every anguished turn of the head and emotion played across the ...

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Latest User Review

USER: Whatsonstage.com - 2 October 2001:

Absolutely stunning piece of theatre - particularly Metcalf, the moment she came on stage I tensed in anticipation. Don't miss it....

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