Published: 17 June 2010
by HOWARD LOXTON

IN the 1940s a lot of  young men came back from the war full of idealistic ideas to a world where others had got rich provisioning the war. Arthur Miller’s 1947 play is set against that background. 

Joe Keller, whose son Larry was reported missing in 1943, not only made profits but was charged with supplying faulty cylinder heads for aircraft, leading to the deaths of 21 pilots. He was exonerated but his partner went to prison. 

The partner’s daughter Ann was Larry’s fiancée but now his brother Chris wants to marry her – to his mother’s distress, for she clings on to the belief that Larry is still alive. 

Into this complex situation comes George, Ann’s brother, digging up the past with new accusations.  

Joe seems a gentle family man, good with the neighbours’ children, but he has a short fuse and David Suchet shows us the uncertainty behind the bonhomie and angry bravado, then crumbles before our eyes. From her first entrance Zoë Wanamaker shows us the haunting despair behind her charming and gay façade and there is a breathtaking moment when she appears to be saying nothing but the barely audible sound of heartbreak fills the theatre when she finally has to face the truth. 

These performances are matched not just by Stephen Campbell Moore as idealist son Chris, Jemima Rooper as Ann and Daniel Lapaine as George, but by everyone in the cast. 

William Dudley’s setting is dominated by the veranda and façade of the Keller’s house. 

The ominous opening storm, sounding at first like bombers overhead, is all lightening and swaying branches in contrast to the warm sunset glow of later scenes. Mark Henderson’s lighting,  music by Dominic Muldowney and Paul Groothuis’ sound make important contributions.  

I can praise this production by Howard Davies no more highly than to say I was held wanting to know what would happen next – despite knowing the play and having seen this production, with a different cast, in its National Theatre form a decade ago. It imbues a play that is not free of melodrama with political significance and tragic resonance.  

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