ALL MY SONS
*****
Director: Jeremy Herrin
Screenwriter: Arthur Miller
Principal cast:
Bill Pullman
Sally Field
Colin Morgan
Jenna Coleman
Oliver Johnstone
Sule Rimi
Kayla Meikle
Country: UK
Classification: TBC
Runtime: 170 mins. (inc. 20 min. interval)
Australian release date: 15 June 2019
Previewed at: Palace Central, Sydney, on 6 June 2019.
The latest National Theatre Live production is screening hard on the heels of the play’s final performance at London’s Old Vic Theatre on June 8th; directed by Jeremy Herrin, it is a top-notch rendition of Arthur Millers’ break-out creation, All My Sons. The play has been captured for the big screen twice before, in 1948 with Edward G. Robinson and Mady Christians as Joe and Kate Keller and Burt Lancaster as their son Chris and, more recently, in 2011 with David Suchet and Zoë Wanamaker as dad and mum Keller and Stephen Campbell Moore as the son. Now, in the 2019 version, we have Bill Pullman and Sally Field as the senior Kellers and Colin Morgan as Chris, and it’s a scorching production. It was Miller’s second attempt at Broadway success, his first effort lasting less than a week, and he swore that if All My Sons didn’t make it, he would chuck it all in and seek employment in some other line of work. Fortunately for theatre-lovers everywhere, the play was a success and the rest, as they say, is history. Also fortunately, it translates to the modern day superbly, to a time when rampant mendacity is rewarded with triumph. One suspects that, these days, the crime at the centre of the story would’ve gone unpunished.
Set in 1947 in Ohio, in the heart of Middle America, the action plays out on a stunning set (a suburban backyard) designed by Max Jones, and it’s heightened by Richard Howell’s dramatic lighting. It is a fine day, after a wild storm the night before, and Joe (Bill Pullman) and Kate (Sally Field) Keller are preparing for the visit of Ann Deever (Jenna Coleman) after a three-year hiatus. Ann is the former girlfriend of their fighter pilot son, Larry, who went missing during the war. She has been invited by Larry’s brother Chris (Colin Morgan), who has been corresponding with her during these past few years. The Kellers and the Deevers were once next-door neighbours but Ann and her brother George (Oliver Johnstone) subsequently moved to New York. Previously the fathers were in business together, manufacturing parts for warplanes, but Steve Deever is now serving a gaol sentence for permitting defective parts to be despatched from their factory, which caused the death of 21 pilots. Joe went to trial for the crime, too, but was exonerated. Kate is convinced that Larry is still alive but Chris and Ann are reconciled to his death, have fallen in love and are intending to marry. The sudden unexpected arrival of George reveals hidden truths and divulges the hypocrisy of the American Dream.
All My Sons is an intense night out and the cast, without exception, is exemplary. Pullman’s Joe has a dogmatic presence, even while seeming slightly removed from reality, whereas Fields’ Kate exudes emotional angst, wrapping herself in her cardigan and wringing her hands. She firmly believes that her son will return for “just recently a missing serviceman had turned up” after a long period and the fact that Larry’s body had never been found gives her hope. She and Joe are committed to living their fantasy version of the facts and go to extraordinary lengths to maintain the status quo but, between them, George and Ann completely shatter their imaginary world. Coleman and Morgan are excellent as the young lovers attempting to create some kind of future for themselves from the mayhem that has thrown them together, but Johnstone almost steals the show as the enraged brother seeking revenge. Mention must also be made of the Keller’s neighbours, Jim and Sue Bayliss, played by Sule Rami and the wonderfully acerbic Kayla Meikle.
Miller is relentless in All My Sons to reveal the cold truth behind the American Dream and show that retribution awaits those who fall for its tenets. “I’m just a businessman”, whines Joe, incapable of understanding that rampant capitalism comes at a cost. Indeed, this play is about much more than war profiteering; it is a savage attack on an economic system which refuses to recognise that when “The compromise is always made”, the price paid often involves selling your soul to the Devil. Don’t miss this searing work, running in limited release around the country.
Screenwriter: Arthur Miller
Principal cast:
Bill Pullman
Sally Field
Colin Morgan
Jenna Coleman
Oliver Johnstone
Sule Rimi
Kayla Meikle
Country: UK
Classification: TBC
Runtime: 170 mins. (inc. 20 min. interval)
Australian release date: 15 June 2019
Previewed at: Palace Central, Sydney, on 6 June 2019.
The latest National Theatre Live production is screening hard on the heels of the play’s final performance at London’s Old Vic Theatre on June 8th; directed by Jeremy Herrin, it is a top-notch rendition of Arthur Millers’ break-out creation, All My Sons. The play has been captured for the big screen twice before, in 1948 with Edward G. Robinson and Mady Christians as Joe and Kate Keller and Burt Lancaster as their son Chris and, more recently, in 2011 with David Suchet and Zoë Wanamaker as dad and mum Keller and Stephen Campbell Moore as the son. Now, in the 2019 version, we have Bill Pullman and Sally Field as the senior Kellers and Colin Morgan as Chris, and it’s a scorching production. It was Miller’s second attempt at Broadway success, his first effort lasting less than a week, and he swore that if All My Sons didn’t make it, he would chuck it all in and seek employment in some other line of work. Fortunately for theatre-lovers everywhere, the play was a success and the rest, as they say, is history. Also fortunately, it translates to the modern day superbly, to a time when rampant mendacity is rewarded with triumph. One suspects that, these days, the crime at the centre of the story would’ve gone unpunished.
Set in 1947 in Ohio, in the heart of Middle America, the action plays out on a stunning set (a suburban backyard) designed by Max Jones, and it’s heightened by Richard Howell’s dramatic lighting. It is a fine day, after a wild storm the night before, and Joe (Bill Pullman) and Kate (Sally Field) Keller are preparing for the visit of Ann Deever (Jenna Coleman) after a three-year hiatus. Ann is the former girlfriend of their fighter pilot son, Larry, who went missing during the war. She has been invited by Larry’s brother Chris (Colin Morgan), who has been corresponding with her during these past few years. The Kellers and the Deevers were once next-door neighbours but Ann and her brother George (Oliver Johnstone) subsequently moved to New York. Previously the fathers were in business together, manufacturing parts for warplanes, but Steve Deever is now serving a gaol sentence for permitting defective parts to be despatched from their factory, which caused the death of 21 pilots. Joe went to trial for the crime, too, but was exonerated. Kate is convinced that Larry is still alive but Chris and Ann are reconciled to his death, have fallen in love and are intending to marry. The sudden unexpected arrival of George reveals hidden truths and divulges the hypocrisy of the American Dream.
All My Sons is an intense night out and the cast, without exception, is exemplary. Pullman’s Joe has a dogmatic presence, even while seeming slightly removed from reality, whereas Fields’ Kate exudes emotional angst, wrapping herself in her cardigan and wringing her hands. She firmly believes that her son will return for “just recently a missing serviceman had turned up” after a long period and the fact that Larry’s body had never been found gives her hope. She and Joe are committed to living their fantasy version of the facts and go to extraordinary lengths to maintain the status quo but, between them, George and Ann completely shatter their imaginary world. Coleman and Morgan are excellent as the young lovers attempting to create some kind of future for themselves from the mayhem that has thrown them together, but Johnstone almost steals the show as the enraged brother seeking revenge. Mention must also be made of the Keller’s neighbours, Jim and Sue Bayliss, played by Sule Rami and the wonderfully acerbic Kayla Meikle.
Miller is relentless in All My Sons to reveal the cold truth behind the American Dream and show that retribution awaits those who fall for its tenets. “I’m just a businessman”, whines Joe, incapable of understanding that rampant capitalism comes at a cost. Indeed, this play is about much more than war profiteering; it is a savage attack on an economic system which refuses to recognise that when “The compromise is always made”, the price paid often involves selling your soul to the Devil. Don’t miss this searing work, running in limited release around the country.