ALL MY SONS. To 13 March.
Manchester
ALL MY SONS
by Arthur Miller
Library Theatre To 13 March 2004
Mon-Thu 7.30pm Fri-Sat 8pm Mat Sat & 18,25 Feb 3pm + 3,10 March 2pm
Audio-described 11 March, 13 March 3pm (+ Touch Tour 1 hr earlier)
BSL Signed 25 February 7.30pm
Play Day 3,10 March 10.30am Workshop + 2pm Mat
Study Day 25 February 11.30am + Mat 3pm
Runs 2hr 20min One interval
TICKETS: 0161 236 7110
www.librarytheatre.com (£1 booking fee)
Review: Timothy Ramsden 9 February
The moral screw's twisted ever-tighter with perfect control .It starts with the thematic and decibel overkill of thundering aircraft sounds, either meaning nothing or being over-obvious to anyone aware this play's about an affluent post-war American family having their peaceful lives broken by guilt. Better is the deceptively tranquil birdsong which follows as Chris Honer's fine production slips into gear.
At its centre, on Judith Croft's ordered lawn setting (all realism, though the house's recessed upper storey seems deliberately doll-like in its apparent security), is David Fleeshman's businessman Joe Keller. Literally central, sitting squarely at ease, joshing with the neighbours, joking with a local lad about having a prison cell in his basement. Any flickers of unease at this point aren't to do with a guilty prison-complex but his wife's lingering obsession their fighter-pilot son is still alive.
Fleeshman's Keller has a surprisingly light manner; seemingly he's convinced himself he's innocent of the wartime crime that's about to re-emerge. It's this makes Arthur Miller's 1947 play such a stark indictment of suburban American dreaming - a denial still striking home in an age no-one resigns, or really admits responsibility.
Keller's uneducated, as Miller rather obtrusively points out, and Fleeshman's Joe is comfortably so, never losing his rough edges dressed for dinner he still looks untidy. He's finally caught out in a beautifully-staged revelatory moment, just as he's entering the safety of his house, turning to become the focus of others' attention.
Miller was to take his themes further in Death of a Salesman we go literally and thematically further into the Loman home. But this production shows how finely built All My Sons is. Brigit Forsyth's Kate is exceptional, apparent serenity soon revealed as a tension which ultimately links to her husband's guilt. How much of a lie her life's become emerges at the second act's end as her hospitable surface turns to clenched-hand declamation.
Jamie Lee's surviving son Chris has the clean-cut confidence of someone with righteousness on his side, and if Sally Bretton's smile might be less insistent, even as a defensive mechanism, and Scot Williams' nervy fury more varied, these are small points in a splendid evening.
Dr Jim Bayliss: Kieron Jecchinis
Joe Keller: David Fleeshman
Frank Lubey: Eamonn Riley
Sue Bayliss: Sophie James
Lydia Lubey: Kate-Lynn Hocking
Chris Keller: Jamie Lee
Bert: Callum Keeley, Matthew King
Kate Keller: Brigit Forsyth
Ann Deever: Sally Bretton
George Deever: Scot Williams
Director: Chris Honer
Designer: Judith Croft
Lighting: Nick Richings
Sound: Paul Gregory
Fight director: Renny Krupinski
Voice coach: Tim Charrington
2004-02-11 14:51:58