'All My Sons' review

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OUR VERDICT

There is more to Arthur Miller’s play, All My Sons, at the Mary Wallace Theatre than first meets the eye, Simon Collins reviews...

As a story Arthur Miller’s 1947 play, All My Sons, has a fascinating premise: at the start, middle-aged Kate Keller has been grieving for the last three years at the loss of her son, Larry, a WWII pilot, reported missing in action. She refuses to accept he has been killed and insists on believing he will return.

Meanwhile, her other son, Chris, has been corresponding with Larry’s fiancé, Ann. When she visits the Keller household the young couple become engaged. The problem is that if the mother accepts the marriage that would involve also accepting that her other son, Larry, is not going to return and must have been killed. She will not do this.

A further complication is that Kate’s husband, Joe, a “defence contractor” (i.e. weapons manufacturer), has framed his business partner, Steve Deever, for selling faulty engines to the Air Force, a scam that led to the deaths of 21 pilots and for which Steve is languishing in prison. Ann is Steve’s daughter and mistakenly believes that her father is guilty. Moreover, living her own lie about Larry, Kate knows the truth about the cracked engines but excuses her husband and his lies to the enquiry. Later Steve’s raging son, George, a New York lawyer arrives intent on tearing the tangle open and preventing his sister Ann from marrying into the Keller family.

But, hold up, the playwright is not primarily interested in illuminating the family’s relationships. Instead, young Arthur Miller, who made his name with this play at the age of 32, consciously followed the example of Ibsen and Shaw using domestic circumstances as a vehicle to comment on contemporary social issues, in this case, post-war tensions between personal integrity and the cut-throat amorality of economic competition. Kate is not the central character (in the script she is not even designated by name, only as “Mother”); instead, the play demonstrates the classical tragic arc of George’s inevitable exposure and fall, the narrative reinforced by a good measure of Ibsenite symbolism such as beginning the play with a doom-laden lightning strike on a tree grown to honour Larry.

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We are now seventy years on. The social arrangements of those days, specifically gender roles, such as a brother assuming the authority to order his sister to leave the house, are becoming quaint; so too the traditional family, trust in a stable society, manners and speech patterns, the innocent customs of ordinary life, the significance of a daily newspaper - all are dissolving into bare reminiscence. What sharpness naturalistic dramas gain from contemporary relevance is blunted with the passing years. They become period pieces.

As usual at this theatre the production values are exemplary. One feels the authentic flavour of 1947. It is always a pleasure to visit the Mary Wallace. Set design, lighting, sound effects and costumes are impeccable. The actors are never less than creditable with Simon Bickerstaffe and Dorothy Duffy (as Joe and Kate Keller), Sarah Imran and Jack Lumb (as Ann and Chris), deserving special mention. Wilhelmina Stringer who plays Bert is a regular poppet who will surely become a star of stage and screen.

Lastly, there is an extra piquancy to this play just now. At the time of writing, Boeing, one of the world’s largest defence contractors, has had every 737 Max aircraft grounded worldwide until further notice following crashes that have killed hundreds of passengers. A suspicion is of undisclosed information about a fault. The enquiry will consider US regulations which allow aircraft companies to self-certify their own safety. Think of the arguments tonight in the homes of the executives.

Venue: Mary Wallace Theatre, Twickenham

Dates: 23 March - 30 March