By Dean Poling
VDT View — VALDOSTA — While some of its conventions feel dated, the message of Arthur Miller’s “All My Sons” remains as relevant today as it did 60 years ago in the wake of World War II.
Valdosta State University Theatre and Dance presents a powerhouse performance with this drama of a family whose war injuries result more from greed than sacrifice, more from profiteering than patriotism.
Director Jimmy Bickerstaff captures what many modern audiences may relate to as an old-movie aura in this play. The show opens in something akin to a yesteryear Hollywood glow of the successful patriarch, the son in love with the former girl next door, another son lost in the good fight of the war, the amusing neighbors, all in a honey-coated neighborhood of post-war America.
The cracks in this veneer come early — the symbolic fall of a memorial apple tree to the lost son, the mother’s disturbing disbelief that her son is really dead, the father’s exoneration from prison, the former girl next door is the daughter of the business partner in prison for hiding defects in airplane parts which caused the deaths of more than 20 American war-time pilots. These cracks only deepen as the play progresses.
R. Keith Pugh’s magnificent set design suggests a beautiful house that is a fractured home, once great but now threatened by climbing vines and unattended grass. This design admirably suits Bickerstaff’s tone for the show, as he leads his cast into the unraveling of Miller’s family and plot.
Rick Patrick and Angie Jehn give brilliant performances as Joe and Kate Keller, the successful businessman and the deluded mother of their war-lost son. Patrick creates a charming and damaged character in Joe that makes the show’s later revelations all the more powerful. Jehn plays a woman who apparently must cling to sanity but has a firm grasp on the fragile condition of her family.
Samuel Raffield plays the Kellers’ surviving son, Chris. Raffield has played many roles through VSU Theatre, and he inhabits this role with a convincing mix of guarded idealism, repressed pain, nervous frustration, and the hope that love may save him.
Hannah Noel Woods plays Ann Deever, the daughter of the jailed partner and the focus of Chris’ love. She smartly plays Miller’s character who, at first glance, seems to be the stereotypical love interest but is a more subtle character study in the perilous realms of love and loyalty.
The entire cast is well chosen and performs wonderfully here.
There are moments near the show’s conclusion where the presentation becomes too loud, too emotive, too soon, leaving the actors nowhere else to go emotionally or in volume.
Also, some audiences may think this show seems too theatrical, meaning performances seem dated like an old black-and-white movie, especially in the first act.
Yet, Bickerstaff wisely adheres to this staging. As the show progresses, audiences should see just how well this works. It evokes another time, which brings home the show’s later revelations that tragedy is timeless.
This review is based on Thursday’s opening-night performance.
VSU Theatre & Dance’s presentation of Arthur Miller’s “All My Sons” continues 7:30 p.m. today; 3 p.m. Sunday; 7:30 p.m., Oct. 12-14, Sawyer Theatre, VSU Fine Arts Building, corner of Oak and Brookwood. Tickets: $12, adult; $10, senior citizens; $8, child, non-VSU student; $7, group rate of 10 or more; free, VSU students with valid ID. Season tickets still available. Reservations, more information: Advanced reservations are recommended. Call VSU Box Office, 2-5 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays, (229) 333-5973.
