 The Very Little Theatre continued its 81st season with a three-week run of All My Sons, the powerful award-winning play by distinguished playwright Arthur Miller.
This wonderful drama won the Tony Award in 1947 for Best Play. It is the sad post-World War II story about the Kellers, a seemingly “All-American” family. Joe Keller, the chief character, is a man who loves his family above all else, and has sacrificed everything, including his honor, in his struggle to make the family prosperous. Keller has apparently achieved the "American Dream" — he lives in a comfortable house despite being an uneducated man. However, the material comfort that Keller has worked to provide his family is of little consequence, as he allowed his factory to ship faulty airplane cylinders during the war, and twenty American pilots died as a result. As a result, Keller's American Dream has become more like an American Nightmare, and we see the painful price that is paid for compromising ethics.
Another theme of All My Sons is wartime profiteering. As there were large contracts when America entered the war on two fronts, the conditions were created for what Arthur Miller described as profiteering on a vast scale. Joe Keller's son Chris is particularly angry that his selflessness in fighting in the war is contrasted by the selfishness of those making money off the war.
The play was inspired by the true story of a young woman who informed authorities that her father had been defrauding the military; Arthur Miller was quoted as saying he was fascinated that a child could have that kind of moral courage. The resulting play is a thought-provoking examination of denial, guilt, and social responsibility. |
