Paapa Essiedu in All My Sons [Jan Versweyveld]

IVO Van Hove’s blistering production of Arthur Miller’s All My Sons feels as though it could have been written yesterday, not in 1946.

Joe Keller (Bryan Cranston) built a successful business during the Second World War, but at the cost of his conscience: he knowingly shipped defective airplane parts, causing the death of 21 pilots.

To save himself, Joe let his partner Steve take the blame and go to prison while he was exonerated.

Meanwhile, Joe’s son Larry has been missing in action for three years, and his wife Kate (Marianne Jean-Baptiste) refuses to accept he’s dead. Their surviving son, Chris (Paapa Essiedu), plans to marry Ann (Hayley Squires), Larry’s former fiancée and Steve’s daughter, and invites her to visit.

The play unfolds in the Kellers’ backyard in the American Midwest. In Jan Versweyveld’s simple but effective design, a storm-toppled tree lies across the stage – a stark symbol of the fallen son. A giant porthole glows like the sun, offering glimpses into the house’s interior.

Over the course of a single day, neighbours drop into this seemingly innocent domestic setting, where secrets and lies fester, waiting to erupt. When they finally do, with the arrival of Ann’s brother George (Tom Glynn-Carney), the Keller family is torn apart.

The play moves to its conclusion with the inevitability of Greek tragedy: Miller demonstrates how Joe’s pursuit of wealth and the American Dream undermine his moral accountability, exposing the rot of a world where personal gain outweighs social responsibility. In wanting to provide for his family and protect his business, Joe sacrifices integrity for profit, leaving them irrevocably damaged.

By drawing out the play’s contemporary resonances, Van Hove’s production raises the stakes, although its 130-minute interval-free running time is a challenge.

The cast is superb, and Cranston and Essiedu’s father-son showdown is spellbinding.

Unmissable.

Until March 7
allmysonsplay.com