Photograph by Jerry Naunheim, Jr.
Patrick Ball and John Woodson in "All My Sons" at The Rep.
In an idyllic backyard in middle America, family patriarch Joe Keller (John Woodson) holds court, shooting the breeze with neighbors, deputizing kids to look out for trouble, and making wisecracks about domestic life. Here, everyone is welcome, and most of the people from the block stop by for a drink or a gab.
This is how Arthur Miller’s drama All My Sons begins: at the pinnacle of the American dream. Joe came from nothing and worked hard to become a factory owner. Now, he can enjoy all the trappings of his success: his white, gabled house behind him and his immaculate lawn in front of him. Well, almost immaculate. To get here has cost him. A tree in his yard has snapped in half. It was a memorial tree planted for his son Larry, who went MIA three years prior, in 1944, during World War II.
Joe’s wife, Kate (Margaret Daly), keeps insisting that Larry isn’t dead. Joe’s other son, Chris (Patrick Ball), who did return from the war, wants to marry Larry’s former fiancée, which Kate won’t allow. But it is the secrets that Joe himself is keeping that threaten to destroy the family.
All My Sons is about the underside of the American dream and, thanks to the Rep’s production, feels just as relevant today as it did when it debuted 70 years ago (coincidentally, the last day of the Rep’s run corresponds with the 70th anniversary of the play’s Broadway opening).
The casting for the play is excellent with Margaret Daly, who plays mom Kate Keller, turning in a particularly strong performance as a grief-stricken mother. Patrick Ball, as son Chris Keller, is great as the war veteran groping for meaning but hiding his doubt behind idealism. John Woodson deftly weaves together all of the aspects of character Joe Keller, blending magnanimity with guilt and a touch of “big man” factory-boss-style intimidation.
The artistic team also created a great set, and director Seth Gordon made some clever choices. The opening of the play, for instance, feels self-conscious, almost staged, as neighbors come and go, making jokes and talking about pretty women. As the play unfolds, it becomes clear that this is self-conscious. There is a terrible secret lurking beneath this middle class ease that everyone is privy to, but no one can speak about. It is hinted at, and turned away from, as the characters try to push forward into the optimistic future that winning the war should offer all of America. By the end, this beautiful backyard is not a place of retreat, but a place to escape.
All My Sons at the Rep runs till January 29 at the Loretto Hilton Center for the Performing Arts (130 Edgar Rd, Webster Groves, MO 63119) Tuesday through Sunday. Go to repstl.org for performance times. Tickets are $18–$81.50
