REVIEW
✭✭✭✭✭ 5/5
ALL MY SONS
QUEEN’S THEATRE HORNCHURCH
✭✭✭✭✭ 5/5
ALL MY SONS
QUEEN’S THEATRE HORNCHURCH
Arthur Miller is revered by many as one of the greatest playwrights of the Twentieth Century. From the mid 1940s he wrote a series of powerful dramas which examined the notion of the “American Dream"; if such a concept existed and indeed what the price would be to a family to maintain it at any cost.
Miller used the events of the turbulent times he was living through as his backdrop. The miracle is that whilst most of the plays were written in the 1940's and 1950's, they seem just as urgent and relevant as ever over 70 years later.
All My Sons was Miller’s second play and, as it turns out, his first big commercial success on Broadway. Had it not been, he had vowed to seek an alternative way of making a living. Inspired by a true story he had read in the paper, the play opened in January 1947 and was a huge smash hit.
In this brand new production at the Queens Theatre in Hornchurch, we are greeted by a huge garden strewn with comfy sun loungers, a table for eating, and the wooden veranda of a typically mid-west house, which is the home of the Keller family. It is Sunday morning and all appears to be very peaceful. The night before though, a sapling tree (at the front of the stage) has been snapped in two by a storm, which has been seen by Kate, Mrs Keller, during a sleepless night. This proves to be a very symbolic moment.
As the play gets going, for the audience, it is like watching an onion being slowly peeled, as layer after layer of story and revelation is revealed, slowly, almost agonisingly. All My Sons is a fine, gripping thriller, the theatrical equivalent of a page-turner that you simply cannot put down.
The family are expecting the arrival of Anne, fiancée of oldest son Larry, a pilot, who has been missing in action, for some three years or more. Her impending visit is making Kate (Eve Matheson) uneasy. She alone has kept her son’s memory alive since his disappearance and she refuses to accept that he will never come back.
Her husband, Joe (David Hounslow) and remaining son, Chris (Oliver Hembrough) are at breaking point with the strain of trying to maintain this facade, and we quickly realise that the happy family vibe we first encounter really is a very fragile one.
The pacing of the play is superb and requires excellent actors to carry its powerful story. In every respect, from casting to design, the production team at the Queens Theatre have triumphed. Resident director, Douglas Rintoul, has brought together a brilliant cast, who effortlessly become the Kellers. David Hounslow is full of swagger and bravado as the typical all American patriarch, Joe, a man who himself is carrying a heavy secret. He is given great support by Oliver Hembrough as Chris, the remaining son, who has fallen in love with his dead brother’s girl, but doesn't know how to tell his mother.
However, as in so many dramas about family, it is the Matriarch who holds the family together. For me, it is the performance of Eve Matheson as Kate which will stay in my mind for some time to come. She is a warm, generous actor and you know that her Kate will always be there to soothe, provide good hearty food, and a hug. She serves grape juice, because she knows Anne’s brother George loves this drink.
It is also her utter denial that her son has gone, and her utter determination to live this lie borne out of grief, that power the play, and eventually will lead tragically to the destruction of the family she has fought so hard to save.
This wonderful cast received a prolonged standing ovation on opening night. It runs at Hornchurch until 5th March. Do not miss this opportunity to see a great play given a real top class production at a fraction of West End prices, a mere 40 mins drive from Southend.
I would give it 10 stars, but as 5 is the maximum I can award, 5 stars it is.
REVIEW BY ANDREW WALTERS
Miller used the events of the turbulent times he was living through as his backdrop. The miracle is that whilst most of the plays were written in the 1940's and 1950's, they seem just as urgent and relevant as ever over 70 years later.
All My Sons was Miller’s second play and, as it turns out, his first big commercial success on Broadway. Had it not been, he had vowed to seek an alternative way of making a living. Inspired by a true story he had read in the paper, the play opened in January 1947 and was a huge smash hit.
In this brand new production at the Queens Theatre in Hornchurch, we are greeted by a huge garden strewn with comfy sun loungers, a table for eating, and the wooden veranda of a typically mid-west house, which is the home of the Keller family. It is Sunday morning and all appears to be very peaceful. The night before though, a sapling tree (at the front of the stage) has been snapped in two by a storm, which has been seen by Kate, Mrs Keller, during a sleepless night. This proves to be a very symbolic moment.
As the play gets going, for the audience, it is like watching an onion being slowly peeled, as layer after layer of story and revelation is revealed, slowly, almost agonisingly. All My Sons is a fine, gripping thriller, the theatrical equivalent of a page-turner that you simply cannot put down.
The family are expecting the arrival of Anne, fiancée of oldest son Larry, a pilot, who has been missing in action, for some three years or more. Her impending visit is making Kate (Eve Matheson) uneasy. She alone has kept her son’s memory alive since his disappearance and she refuses to accept that he will never come back.
Her husband, Joe (David Hounslow) and remaining son, Chris (Oliver Hembrough) are at breaking point with the strain of trying to maintain this facade, and we quickly realise that the happy family vibe we first encounter really is a very fragile one.
The pacing of the play is superb and requires excellent actors to carry its powerful story. In every respect, from casting to design, the production team at the Queens Theatre have triumphed. Resident director, Douglas Rintoul, has brought together a brilliant cast, who effortlessly become the Kellers. David Hounslow is full of swagger and bravado as the typical all American patriarch, Joe, a man who himself is carrying a heavy secret. He is given great support by Oliver Hembrough as Chris, the remaining son, who has fallen in love with his dead brother’s girl, but doesn't know how to tell his mother.
However, as in so many dramas about family, it is the Matriarch who holds the family together. For me, it is the performance of Eve Matheson as Kate which will stay in my mind for some time to come. She is a warm, generous actor and you know that her Kate will always be there to soothe, provide good hearty food, and a hug. She serves grape juice, because she knows Anne’s brother George loves this drink.
It is also her utter denial that her son has gone, and her utter determination to live this lie borne out of grief, that power the play, and eventually will lead tragically to the destruction of the family she has fought so hard to save.
This wonderful cast received a prolonged standing ovation on opening night. It runs at Hornchurch until 5th March. Do not miss this opportunity to see a great play given a real top class production at a fraction of West End prices, a mere 40 mins drive from Southend.
I would give it 10 stars, but as 5 is the maximum I can award, 5 stars it is.
REVIEW BY ANDREW WALTERS
Below: Production shots credit: Mark Kepple