By Cal
Link: All My
Sons | Stanhope Productions | Digital Theatre Rent for £7.99 or subscribe
to Digital Theatre for £9.99 a month.
Available until: Unknown
It would have been more fitting to review
a lockdown production on the day it was announced that London was entering Tier
3 and the theatres would close, but I’d already started watching this one. But
Louise is reviewing the Old Vic’s A Christmas Carol, someone will be
reviewing Red Bull Theatre’s A King and No King and we have bought a lot
of tickets for livestream productions over the next few weeks.
I love online theatre. But I wish it was a choice the theatres had made and not a necessity. I wish all the theatres were able to do it so at least there would be some financial gain for them at this time. We won’t ask anyone to donate to the theatres. That’s a personal decision for each individual or family. But I hope there are people who are able to donate, and that they’re donating.
So, back to the review. All My Sons
is a typical Arthur Miller play. Families are arguing. Parents are unhappy
with their children. Children are unhappy with their parents. Somebody wants to
get married and it’s not seen as a good choice. It’s not much different from a
soap on the surface.
But only on the surface. Miller’s
plays aren’t just about the plot. There’s so much going on underneath, both
with the family or families concerned and what the play is saying about society
in general. And people in general. We live in a very different world now, and
I’m not just talking about the world of 2020. But people have the same weaknesses.
The same ways to survive. Or not.
The better the production, the more
this is brought out and this is a very good production with an excellent cast. As
a Poirot fan, I was a little bit worried at first about a marriage between
Hercule Poirot and Ariadne Oliver. That is taking fanfiction too far! But it
wasn’t Poirot and Ariadne. David Suchet and Zoe Wanamaker are such outstanding
actors, you forget about the roles they once played together (and the fact that
one of the stories guest-starred Jemima Rooper, who is also in this cast). It’s
only the characters you see on the stage who matter. Those familiar with both
stories might spot similarities after the event, but when the play is
happening, you don’t think about it because Joe and Kate Keller are completely
different. They behave differently. They speak differently. And to all intents
and purposes, they look different too. We look at David and Zoe and we only see
Joe and Kate.
All My Sons is based on true events, though the
characters are fictional. In the 1940s, a fleet of aircraft were cleared for
military use. But these aircraft did not function correctly and the people responsible
for clearing them for use knew that. The aircraft crashed and a lot of men
died. The main character in the play, Joe Keller, plays a role in that. The
aircraft came from his factory. Joe doesn’t accept responsibility for what
happened. He says he didn’t know. He wasn’t found guilty, but his friend and
former business partner was. But some people still blame him.
Joe’s son Chris wants to marry Ann,
the daughter of Joe’s jailed business partner. But Kate believes Ann is waiting
for Chris’ brother Larry, her former boyfriend. But Larry crashed his plane not
long after Joe was arrested. Larry’s body was never recovered, but neither did
he come home. Joe’s wife, Kate, thinks he still might. She refuses to be shaken
in her belief. Chris and Ann want to move on from the past and be happy, but
there are secrets lurking under the surface and one by one, they’re revealed.
Perhaps I’m getting too used to plays
which are filmed on location, but I kept forgetting this was a play. Partly
because the performances were so good, it felt real, but also because the set
is so realistic. William Dudley has designed an incredible back garden. The stage
is covered by what looks like real grass. The garden furniture gets in the way
– not enough to hamper the production, but enough to show it’s meant to be a
garden with flaws designed by human beings, rather than a perfect piece of
garden architecture. Stage sets can look too perfect sometimes! The house looks
like a house, with realistic-looking steps that lead inside and a patio. There
are also some beautiful and sometimes creepy lighting effects from Mark
Henderson.
Howard Davies’ production suggests a
sympathy with all characters. They all make mistakes. They all cling to beliefs
and ideals when they arguably shouldn’t. We will like some characters and
dislike others; agree with some and disagree with others (and we won’t
necessarily agree with the ones we like and disagree with the ones we don’t)
and I don’t feel we’re being pushed in a particular direction. We’re free to
make up their own minds, whether we’re actively watching and judging or just
responding emotionally to what is on the stage.
David Suchet is a brilliant actor, but
his brilliance can still occasionally come as a surprise because here is yet
another extremely challenging role he can play. Joe starts off relaxed and
happy but as this veneer is stripped away, David really comes into his own with
a riveting and surprisingly sympathetic performance that doesn’t hide Joe’s
weaknesses but also shows his humanity.
Zoe Wanamaker is a nervy Kate,
clinging to her past with a determination that is almost as impressive as it is
tragic, prepared to do almost anything to keep her illusions alive. Stephen
Campbell Moore brings a harsh but necessary realism to the play as Chris, his
need to move on as palpable as his parents’ desperation to live in their own
versions of the past. Jemima Rooper, as his love interest Ann, tries hard to
keep smiling, even when you can see she’s breaking apart.
The play isn’t even allowed to keep
its problems within the family, with various neighbours and relatives
descending on them at entirely the wrong moments. Daniel Lapaine’s George
almost seems to vibrate with anger and the unfairness of it all while cruel Sue
(Claire Hackett), the sweet and giggly Lydia (Olivia Darnley), the well-meaning
Jim (Steven Elder) and others invade their lives and help to turn them upside
down.
There’s a lot of online theatre coming
up so you might have enough to watch, but this brilliant production is
definitely one to keep in mind.
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