Mariposa Arts Theatre (MAT) is following up its highly successful sold-out production of Chicago with a very different show.
All My Sons was the first of the great plays by Arthur Miller that established him as the most important American dramatist of the 20th century. It is 1947, the Second World War is over, and the future is apparently bright and sunny for the Keller family. But the losses, the strains and the betrayals of war have left a dark aftermath which can no longer be ignored. At once a touching love story and a moving tragedy, the play deals with issues which recent wars in Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan have brought to new relevance.
Director Iain Moggach of Barrie’s Theatre By The Bay said he is constantly impressed with the power and quality of Miller’s writing.
“In Miller’s plays, the words shape the universe,” he says. “Once things are said, they can never be unsaid. And the themes of the play are universal – the lines we are willing to cross for our families, the ruthlessness of business, the moment when kids learn that their parents are human.”
Moggach directs a strong cast, most of whom will be familiar to audiences from recent MAT productions, although ten-year-old Lachlan Sharpe will be making his first appearance on the MAT stage.
The play centres around Joe Keller, a successful businessman who has made his fortune supplying aero engines to the U.S. Army, but with terrible consequences. The family has been mourning for Larry, missing in action, but now, three years later, his brother Chris wants to marry Larry’s girl Annie, and it is this difficult love which precipitates the crisis. Their mother, Kate, has never accepted that Larry is dead, while Annie is keeping a secret she has no wish to reveal.
“We warm to all these characters,” says producer John Caryl, “and audiences will love young Bert, but it is Keller who is the heart and soul of the play.”
Frank Kewin, who starred in last summer’s Heroes, plays Keller, and says of his character, “He draws me in to the complexity of what is and is not liveable.”
All My Sons runs in the Orillia Opera House Studio Theatre, Feb. 8-10 and 15-17, 2018, with matinees Feb. 11 and Feb. 18 at 2 p.m. Tickets are $25 for adults, $20 for groups of 10 or more and are available from the Opera House box office (705 326 8011 or online).
