All My Sons Play Review

WE FEEL LIKE A KELLER; “ALL MY SONS” A PROFOUNDING PLAY

Every once in a while, a rare few of play productions manages to pierce through the emotional profundity of a script and capture the heart of its audience. Through Miller’s meticulously scripted main characters who perfectly portray the emotional complexity of the play, audiences are glued to their seats, eagerly anticipating every twist and turn that unfolds.

With hints of influence from Ibsen and Greek's play, Arthur Miller’s 1948 Broadway production of “All My Sons” is set in the backyard of an anonymous, but stereotypical middle class “American Town”. Its focus - the well-off but flawed Keller family. The play, being set in post-World War II America, provides Miller the setting to explore thematic concerns of family responsibility, patriotism and money, creating an immensely emotional play that poises audiences on the edge of their seats. The play begins with Joe Keller starting his uneventful day with his neighbours with a sprinkle of humour. However, the uncovering of family secrets soon serves to displace this calm and blissful life with tides of pain and complications.

In Miller’s play, Joe Keller is a factory owner and family man whose contribution to the US Army leads to high tensions and conflicts within his family. Kate Keller, Joe’s wife, clings tightly to the belief that their oldest son, Larry, who went missing in the war, is actually still alive and will eventually return. On the other hand, Chris Keller, their other son, longs to erase the past and marry Kate Deever. A far cry from his fairy tale hopes, this girl of his dreams is in fact his brother’s girlfriend, and the daughter of Joe’s imprisoned ex-partner.

The play is given life as the actors and actresses vividly and effortlessly portray the dynamics of each character. Major characters include: Chris, Joe's son, a World war 2 veteran, Ann's Lover, Joe Keller, father of Chris, a Factory owner and former partner of Steve Deever ( George and Ann's father). Kate Keller, the wife of Joe. Ann Deever, George's brother, and Chris's lover. George Deever, the brother of Ann and a lawyer. The minor characters are Jim Bayliss is a doctor in the neighborhood. Sue Bayliss, Jim's wife. Lydia Lubey, wife of Frank. Frank Lubey, the husband of Lydia who avoided military service. Bert, a little boy in the neighborhood breaks the tension in the play by bringing the audience sheer entertainment. The play becomes even more successful with the right mix of and diversity in characters, who each add their own personality and flair to the storyline.

The play includes a few important conflicts. The origin of all conflicts is the period of World War 2. The conflicts are mainly caused by financial issues/ Wealth, Lies, Judgments, and more between the Keller family and the people they know. The Keller family had experienced a harsh life at the time, which had made of them do regrettable things. These main conflicts spark curiosity within the audience and draws in their attention. Tension rises potentially as conflicts are continually being introduced. The conflicts rise with the actions of the characters. The tension within the play ascends to a whole new level through the exciting use of tentative body language, passionate language, dramatic movements, and facial expressions, altogether making “All My Sons” an excellent and memorable play.

Just as outstandingly developed as the characters, the setting described by Miller in “All My Sons” was superb. The plays’ two-storied set is spotless in its terms of its domestic detail. Audiences are immediately intrigued from the very beginning when the trees surrounding the large Keller home in the suburbs shiver and tremble in the blowing wind, bringing in mind the importance of the trees and what they symbolize into the film. Being set solely in the backyard of the Keller home, characters are forced to meet and communicate in one place, making it impossible to escape conflict. The beautifully and almost perfectly decorated backyard also symbolizes how society was like right after the war, full of roses, prepared for a bright future. Although the appearance of the Keller’s backyard may seem tranquil and full of harmony, just like how society was after the war, it merely just acts as a cover of the unexpected lies and pain of the Keller family