A tour de force, thought-provoking drama that stirs the soul
ST MICHAEL’s THEATRE stage was the arena for a thought provoking drama which drew around 800 people to the venue for New Ross Drama Workshop’s performance of Arthur Miller’s All My Sons.
The drama all takes place in the front lawn of a typical American house where the Keller family, father Joe, mother Kate and son Chris, live. Set in Autumn 1947, this post World War II drama is rooted in tragedy and in one man’s fatal decision. The story takes place within a day and involves only ten characters in total.
The death of Chris’s brother Larry provides a poignant emotional bedrock to the story and it doesn’t take long for old wounds to open and for emotionally charged exchanges to bubble to the surface.
Miller’s piercingly honest words found perfect expression in an exemplary cast, led by Martina Kavanagh, the grief stricken mother in denial that her son, who has been missing for three years, is dead.
Ivan Duncan plays the likeable Everyman, ordinary, hard working father, who, as the play unfolds, transpires to have a shady past.
As the tension gets ratcheted up, with the arrival of Larry’s ex and her brother George, the psychological drama takes flight.
Edward Hayden Seona O Connor, Peter Rothwell, Peter O Connor, Nancy Rochford-Flynn, Nicky Flynn, Sinead Croarkin and Darragh Murphy all acted superbly, pulling off the broad American accent and negotiating the tense dialogue wonderfully.
The set was easy on the eye even if the raw brutal emotion of the acting and the difficult subject matters - including suicide - wasn’t always.
The exchanges between the Kellers, in particular, were memorable, charged with crackling dialogue, white hot anger, unbearable grief, humour and despair, as was the fantastic wordplay, which, at times, was in turns witty, poetic and very moving.
New Ross Drama Workshop have been performing in New Ross since 1980. Their latest offering has to rank among their most memorable plays, showing, once again, the amazing acting talent in the area. Director Margaret Rossiter and her crew managed to deliver a prescient, powerful play, which contained difficult subject matters, a rare feat and one which should be applauded, and was, as the production received a standing ovation on Saturday night.