Queens Theatre, Hornchurch – until 5th March 2022
Reviewed by Bobbi Fenton
5*****
‘All My Sons’ by Arthur Miller is an absolutely phenomenal play, showing the struggles of a typical American family after the Second World War. Set in an unnamed American town in 1947, this play focuses on the Keller family, which consists of Father Joe (David Hounslow), Mother Kate (Eve Matheson), and their son Chris (Oliver Hembrough). They also have another son, Larry, who has been missing and presumed dead since the war. The play focuses a lot on the struggle for Kate to accept that her son isn’t coming back, with everyone around her trying to get her to stop believing that he is still alive while also keeping her happy. The main story, though, is about a big secret from during the war finally coming to light, affecting the lives of everybody around them.
During the war, it is believed that a worker of Joe’s sent faulty parts from their shop to be put on planes, resulting in the death of twenty-one pilots. This event is addressed multiple times throughout the play, resulting in the truth finally coming out.
The set is made up of the back of a yellow house, which you can see slightly inside of. The back garden is inside some hedges, and has a table with chairs, and a reclining chair with a footstool. It looks like how you’d expect any American back garden to look post-war, which further echoes the town being purposefully un-named to emphasise the fact that it represents the struggles faced by many families across America. The backdrop is lit up in three different ways, changing throughout the play to show whether it was morning, afternoon, or evening, which works great as the play progresses.
Larry’s ex-girlfriend and Chris’s fiancé, Ann (Kibong Tanji) gets caught up in the middle of everything when she returns to her hometown to see Chris, with her father being the man who supposedly was to blame for the faulty parts being sent out of the shop. Towards the end of the first act, her brother, George (Nathan Ives-Moiba) comes to the Keller residence to demand the truth, following a visit with his father in prison. This is the beginning of the downfall for Joe, as he is forced to tell the truth about that fateful day, throwing the lives of all of his family members into chaos.
This play is absolutely incredible, with remarkable twists showing the reality behind the supposed American dream. It should definitely not be missed.