ALL MY SONS
ALL MY SONS, Darlinghurst Theatre Company at the Eternity Playhouse, 1 November-1 December 2013. Photography by Brett Boardman: Toni Scanlan and Andrew Henry; Marshall Napier, right.
When it was first announced that the "new" Eternity Playhouse would be opening with Arthur Miller's 1946 play All My Sons, I have to admit to wondering at the choice. It wasn't that simple, of course. The inevitable delays in bringing the building to completion meant the Australian play which had been intended as the premiere production was no longer in the running. It turns out to be fortuitous. Not only is the premiere production a fine one, it's also a reminder that although we're more familiar with Miller's later plays, this one deserves to be revived and savoured just as often.
It must be said too that the new Playhouse is a brilliant revival of an old building and is also to be savoured. It's beautiful to look at and be in. Elements of the old tabernacle such as stained glass windows and the ceiling have been retained and highlighted while timber - old and new - is a feature along with brick and stonework. The front of house areas are spacious and architecturally exciting; the auditorium is a delight - good acoustics, comfortable seating and more good design - and there are excellent South Australian wines at the bar at reasonable prices. City of Sydney is to be congratulated on the vision and determination to see through this project.
Meanwhile, back on the stage, Iain Sinclair has always wanted to direct All My Sons and it's now blindingly obvious why. He has done a glorious job on Miller's first commercial success and the only question really is - why isn't it performed more often? It predates Death of a Salesman by almost two years, and The Crucible by six and like both, the underlying theme is the flaws in American society and - by association - these can be transposed without effort to 21st century Australia.
Happily, however, Sinclair has resisted the currently fashionable thing of shifting the action to Wagga Wagga with Aussie voices and left the play in America (accent coach Gabrielle Rogers has done a fine job) and in its period setting. Ironically, this works to highlight the play's universality and timelessness - unlike the recent Belvoir production of Death of a Salesman where the quasi-Aussiefication made that play seem almost anachronistic and occasionally just plain odd.
The casting is exemplary: Marshall Napier is physically imposing and also hints at the ruthlessness behind an essential human softness to convince as Joe Keller, who abandoned every principle - and his business partner - for the good of his family. In allowing the unseen Steve Deever to take the blame and prison sentence for the faulty aircraft parts that left their factory and killed 21 young air force pilots, he represents generations of corrupt yet wilfully deluded men.
As the deceptively calm centre of a storm of grief, anger and emotion is Joe's wife Kate (Toni Scanlan). She is a previous Sydney Theatre Awards nominee (A View From The Bridge) and winner for Best Actress (King Tide) and her performance in this central and difficult role is riveting from the start and heart-rending by the end. Kate refuses to believe her eldest son Larry died in the war, refuses to give up her conviction that he will return and refuses to accept that his girlfriend Annie (Anna Houston) and surviving brother Chris (Andrew Henry) are moving on - together.
Kate's disconnection from reality is underlined by the shabby state of the family house and backyard lawns (design Luke Ede). That a consciously middle class matron such as Kate could overlook the unkempt, unswept back porch and steps and peeling paint is a symbolic of her inner misery and chaos. The only thing she notices is the apple tree, broken in the wind storm of the previous night, and that is because it had been planted for Larry on his wartime disappearance.
Anna Houston - late, late replacement for TV-called Meredith Penman - has settled into the company without a ripple and is the poignant equal of Andrew Henry as the would-be lovers inching their way through the minefield of conflicting emotions and demands towards each other. Also powerful is Mary Rachel Brown as the sharp-tongued, sex-starved local doctor's wife and director Iain Sinclair's playing of the avuncular doctor makes it clear why she is the way she is.
Anthony Gooley makes an electrifying late appearance as Annie's brother George - blindly furious and vengeful after finally visiting their estranged father in jail and discovering the truth about the scandal.
As more near neighbours the Lubeys - Lydia and Frank - Briallen Clarke and Robin Goldsworthy add credible heft to the false normalcy of this American Dream turned nightmare-in-microcosm. Lydia loved George before war intervened and in the interim, married Frank and produced three children and domestic cheeriness with perky yet bovine acceptance. Frank, on the other hand, is an astrology nut and it's his chart for the dead Larry that helps Kate remain convinced that her son is still alive.
The inexorable journey to fresh tragedy upon old tragedy takes place in just 24 hours - neatly suggested by Nicholas Rayment's lighting - and its inevitability doesn't make it less compelling. Miller's play won Broadway's major awards for its premiere run and this shoestring independent production tells us exactly why that was so; and also that the play - in a city where the latest ICAC hearings are all about high-end corruption for the sake of the family - is as of this time as it was in the aftermath of WW2.
All My Sons is gripping, moving and memorable theatre. Not to be missed.
