The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
All My Sons
Dundee Rep, February 19 to March 9
Showbusiness legend has it that Arthur Miller was giving this theatre malarkey one last go when he completed the writing of All My Sons in 1946. Commercial success had evaded him when his debut, the ironically titled The Man Who Had All The Luck, folded on Broadway after just four performances, bad reviews, and little box office interest.
As the history books prove, he later went on to pen some of the 21st Century’s most iconic dramas such as The Crucible, Death Of A Salesman and A View From The Bridge, all of which are frequently performed to this day. Clearly then, Miller had hit the jackpot with All My Sons, his play about family secrets, misplaced loyalty, social and individual responsibility and devastating betrayal.
With the Dundee Rep Ensemble producing their own version, does the work feel as though it was written by someone in the last-chance playwriting saloon?
“I think this is the work of a man who is being brave,” states director Jemima Levick.
“While he might have had to put bread on the table by another means if the production was not successful, it doesn’t feel desperate, just very honest.
“To my mind Arthur Miller would always have found a way to write.”
All My Sons revolves around the Keller family, headed up by patriarch Joe who runs a successful business supplying engines to the US Air Force while his wife Kate manages the household.
They have two sons, Larry and Chris, proudly serving in the military, with Larry set to wed Ann Deever upon his return home. The Kellers appear to be the living embodiment of the American Dream.
But beneath it all, that dream has turned into a nightmare. Larry is missing in action presumed dead (though his mother is in complete denial
about this probability), Chris has left the army early, and becomes distraught that life appears to be going on at home as normal.
Meanwhile, Joe carries a guilty secret of serious wrongdoing at work which has caused untold misery and led to the imprisonment of his friend and business partner Steve (Ann’s father). Ultimately the truth can’t help but rise to the surface and amid the inevitable chaos, tragedy is not too far round the corner.
“The play feels similar to classical Greek tragedy in many ways but I’m not sure about whether a moral order is restored,” states Jemima.
“In Greek tragedy the gods restore order once the tragic hero has suffered his fate. Whereas here, I think Miller is perhaps more interested in showing some kind of realisation of a truth; a truth that is impossible to bear. In this sense, the play is about an unravelling of this rather than finding a moral equilibrium or restoration of order
“Miller believed a play was never finished; you get as close as you can to the truth and then you stop. If we want to think a moral order is restored then so be it, but I think Miller does leave that up to us.”
This Dundee Rep version is in excellent company this spring, with new adaptations of All My Sons arriving in both London’s West End (featuring Sally Field, Bill Pullman and Jenna Coleman) and on Broadway (starring Annette Bening and Tracy Letts).
What is it about the play that makes people still flock to see it?
“All great works of art become great over time,” says Jemima. “This is true of All My Sons.
“The idea of the protagonist having to suffer their fate due to their own error is compelling for us to watch.
“The exploration of the father-son relationship and the idea of individual versus a social responsibility within the confines of a family drama will always have audience appeal.”
To my mind, Arthur Miller would always have found a way to write