Birmingham’s Crescent Theatre presents the Arthur Miller classic, All My Sons, from September 28th to October 5th. This is the play that catapulted Miller to global fame. One act of abject cowardice in World War 2 comes back to unravel the Keller family’s American Dream and their lives spiral out of control.
Director Rod Natkiel, whose previous work for The Crescent includes My Night With Reg, The Lovely Bones and The Girl on the Train comments: “Miller is an absolute master of his craft and this play is probably at the pinnacle of his works. It’s a savage story, which horrifyingly is based on a real one, of an act which led to the death of 21 pilots in the war. It’s a story of profiteering in times of crisis. In this instance the culprit pays for his crime, while hundreds – possibly thousands – got away with it. We only have to think of COVID to see that Miller is as perceptively relevant today as he was in 1947, when the play opened in the USA.”
“Miller crafts and paces his play beautifully, shaped in the tried and tested structure of the very best Greek tragedies, and writes phenomenal dialogue for characters whom he makes 100% real. We’ve all met the types. Or maybe we ARE one of the types?
He explores several themes, principal amongst them being the potential clash of family loyalty with social responsibility. The play’s twists and turns and the emotional roller-coaster (and yes, there are several funny moments!) is a joy for actors to play and audiences to absorb. Perhaps most importantly of all, Miller is a superb storyteller. It’s gripping theatre from start to finish.”
This is an opportunity for audiences to see a top class ‘classic Miller’ production which stays faithful to the playwright’s passion for achieving realism on stage. There are no gimmicks, no time-shifts. It will feature a stunning and massive new set designed by Keith Harris, the Crescent’s Head of Design, the biggest single location set he’s ever designed. It will do much more than evoke residential Ohio in 1947: it will almost be it.
Big name Crescent actors take to this stage, with Bill Hayes (most recently Frank in Educating Rita) and Paula Snow (Lucille Cadeau in House & Garden) as patriarch and matriarch Joe and Kate Keller, leading a stellar cast. It includes Jason Adam (Antonio in The Duchess of Malfi) as their highly principled and riddled with survivor-guilt son, Chris; Rachael Maltby (Johanna Faustus in That Damned Woman) as the girlfriend of the Kellers’ son Larry, now missing in action for three years; and Joe Palmer (Ben in The Mercy Seat) as her very, very angry brother George. Two local schoolboys share the role of the likeable neighbourhood scamp, Bert: Cobie Burton, a pupil at Fairfax Academy in Sutton Coldfield, and Basil Aicha, a pupil at Four Dwellings Academy in Quinton.
Rod Natkiel concludes: “I don’t think you can do much better in the field of thought-provoking storyteller playwrights than Arthur Miller. But he is, above all, a consummate theatre craftsman who keeps audiences on the edge of their seats and desperate to know what’s going to happen next – and to know also if it will make them laugh or tear at their hearts?”
All My Sons runs at The Crescent, Birmingham, from September 28th – October 5th. Tickets, with concessions available, can be bought via www.crescent-theatre.co.uk or 0121 643 5858.