MR+All+My+Sons

Maddie Ross 11/13/11 All The Drama: A Performance Critique of //All My Sons// For our last required performance, we trudged up the Fine Art Building’s stairs to see Arthur Miller’s //All My Sons//. I read //The Crucible// and //Death of a Salesman// in high school, but never had I seen an Arthur Miller play. I knew he was a critically acclaimed playwright, but I also knew his pieces were serious, so I was expecting this show to be boring or depressing. Instead, I was tremendously surprised. Of all of the amateur productions I have seen, including high school and community theatre, the UGA drama department’s production of //All My Sons// was the most incredible and moving performance I have ever seen. Through the production design, acting, and deep themes of the play, //All My Sons// presented the harsh consequences of immoral decisions and the illusion of the American dream. The set design of //All My Sons// first set the emotion of the production. The stage was extremely raked, slanting into the audience. At first, I was nervous the furniture onstage would slide off with the actors would follow behind them, both slipping off into the audience. But as the play progressed, and nothing was falling off the front of the stage, my worries were calmed. What was once a distraction for the audience turned into an advantage. With the stage so slanted, the audience could see more of the performance. We could see the actors’ closeness to other characters, which helped determine their relationships. We could see their paths of walking, giving the characters another piece of characterization in the way they walked. And when the actors reclined on the stairs in the back of the set, we could still see their whole bodies, emphasizing their lounging position. Because, the stage also extended far into the audience, it brought the actors and the drama closer. I felt very connected to the production because it was so close to me. With this extended and raked stage, I could see absolutely everything the actors did. It was almost if we watched the action from above: instead of looking through a window to peak at their lives, we looked down and examined them, as if we were looking through a microscope and the production was the examination slide. No character could hide. Everyone was on display. The set was minimal. It consisted of only a table with four chairs, a bench, a tree, and some window outlines. At first I wondered how they could represent different scenes without changing the set, but the minimal set served all of its purposes. It housed every scene without any confusion of the plot. Its ambiguous layout and lack of decoration allowed the production team to present it as a backyard, but still keep a coldness to the play. There is no homey or cozy feeling that a backyard is usually associated with. This is also seen in the chrome tree. The set included a fallen tree that represented the missing character, Larry. But the tree is not a natural looking tree, with bark and green leaves that hold the associations of a perfect and loving family home. Instead, the tree was a chrome, angular statue with no leaves. Its simplicity highlights the coldness of the play. Its branches are bare, like the play is bare without the beloved Larry. At the back of the set, behind the silhouette of windows, sat all of the characters. When they were not onstage acting, they were sitting in their designated chairs. Like the raked stage, I though it would be a distraction. But as I became more absorbed in the action of the play, my attention never lingered to the stationary actors. The significance of these seats is skewed, for I’m not sure why the production team decided to have the actors always sit on stage, especially the ones with few lines. They spent more time on stage silent than acting. But whatever the reason, I liked the effect. When I go to a show, I like to keep the cast in check, making sure I know whom everyone is. With the actors sitting in the back, it emphasized the small cast and allowed me to identify every actor. The design crew decided to incorporate sounds and music into the production. At the beginning of each act, the sound crew played excerpts from radio talk shows. These radio inserts brought a more realistic sense to the play, as if the family was actually listening to the radio. It also incorporated the time period, highlighting war events in a realistically static tone. Music, soft sweet piano music, was also added when Kate gave long monologues. The effect was beautifully cinematic. In movies they often play music to add drama to the scene and it had the same effect in //All My Sons//. The musical undertone of Kate’s monologues emphasized her words while softening her speech and highlighting the touching emotion behind it. It also kept the audience engaged. Because her speeches were rather extensive, it would be hard for the audience to keep focus. But I found that the music broke up her speeches into smaller sections and I could follow them the whole time. I feel all plays should follow this formula. The addition of music was a true jewel in the performance. After the set, the design team focused on costumes and make up. I saw the inspiration boards for costumes both before and after the performance. After, I appreciated the board much more, because the clothes were very realistic to the time period, while still bringing out the personality of each character. Kate’s sparkly blue evening dress fit her whimsical, if delusional, charisma. Lydia’s shades of pink matched her innocent and perky personality. Anne was radiant in her simple blue dress. The characters described her to be a beauty, and her dark blue working dress highlighted her simple elegance. Her green evening dress however, was something of a train wreck. I understood it was supposed to look fancy and decorated, but it contained major problems. It was the same silhouette as her first dress, so there was little differentiating quality that elevated the evening dress. It was also too busy; there was decoration around her collar and her waist that didn’t work well together. The pale lime green color did not coordinate well with her skin color or emphasize any elegance or sense of fancy sophistication. Both the green dress and her second act shoes were too big. I could tell she had some trouble walking in the heels, and I was afraid she would fall. Like her dress, they did not fit and were not particularly fancy. Production design aside, what truly sold //All My Sons// as a masterpiece was the acting. Brain Reddy, the critically acclaimed actor, did not disappoint. He could switch from gentle to forceful and was always believable. What surprised me was that most of the other actors could keep up with him. The character Kate, his wife, was just as charming. The sweetheart of the long lost Larry, Anne, was just as forceful. Even the characters with small parts, like Sue, Lydia and George, who only each had one major scene, were just as believable. What made the acting was the believability. The actors flowed together and seemed to be having actual conversations, not just “Ok, time to deliver my line now, so I’ll just say it”. There were no awkward pauses or breaks.; one question was answered with a response with the right timing. Sometimes the actors even talked on top of each other, adding a more realistic element, for people in real life talk on top of each other. These actors also emerged themselves in their characters. They did not hold back, whether they were yelling at another or sulking because they were being yelled at. Because they believed they were these characters, the audience believed it to. The only actor who did not rise to the occasion was the actor who played Chris. I found that he did hold back. When he grabbed Brain Reddy’s shirt and yelled at him, I could tell he was embarrassed or afraid to assault such an important and famous person. I could tell he felt awkward kissing Anne and fighting with her brother George. I could tell he tried really hard to deliver his lines right and have the right movements, but it did not seem natural. I did not believe he was a suffering man with a missing beloved brother, or the overachiever that Sue described him to be. He had one of the biggest parts of the play, and yet he fell a little flat. Instead of focusing on him, the major player, my eyes traveled to the others. Overall, the play read as a 1940s American soap opera. Secrets, murder, jealousy and denial were all involved. The audience was always kept on its toes, as first we are meant to believe that Joe, Brain Reddy’s character, is a nice, all American, stand-up guy and that George, Anne’s cynical brother, is a conniving and negative man. In the middle, we discover Joe’s true evil nature and sympathize with George. But by the end, the audience heart reaches out to every character onstage. Everyone in //All My Sons//, even the nonexistent Larry, has lost something, whether it be their dignity or trust in others or own self worth. The idea of the American Dream, of starting your own successful way of life, sometimes compromises your morality and decisions. Joe lets his determination to be a successful businessman obstruct him from being a rational and honest man. Arthur Miller presents Joe as the warped all-American man, and //All My Sons// as the disillusioned American Dream. Since Tuesday, I have told everyone I know to see this show. It was powerful, romantic, and full of twists and turns. The plot, full of secrets, kept the audience on its toes, while the characters melted our hearts. I would like to go back and reread some of Miller’s plays, like //The Crucible// and //Death of a Salesman,// because now I have a whole new appreciation for his work. Although this is my last required play, this will not be my last visit to a University of Georgia drama department performance. I am certainly looking forward to more drama and deception, or anything the department has in store.