You want to live? You better figure out your life.

The latest in an occasional series of theatre reviews...

All My Sons : Wyndham's Theatre

I didn't have a great deal of luck with my theatre selections last year, so I've become more particular in my choices - but this got good write-ups and has a great cast, so I was tempted into a reasonably priced late purchase with reasonably high expectations.

But the evening started on a strange note because, considering I hadn't paid that much for my ticket, I was directed to the Royal Circle and I was apparently in seat 6-2 - what did that even mean?

Yes, this is what it meant! Fancy, huh - I've never sat in a box before and I've always wondered what it would be like. Unsurprisingly given the price, the view wasn't great and I had to lean forward all evening, but I'm more than happy to put up with such things to tick it off my list.

The curtain stayed down before the show (I always prefer a teaser view of the set beforehand) so I had no idea what to expect when the lights went down and the curtain went up - but I certainly wasn't expecting to get thirty seconds of a woman hugging a big tree which then preceded to start to topple over as the curtain came down again...

Things were slightly more conventional when the curtain came back up (except for the big tree lying across the stage) with two characters having a mundane conversation about the news - it was bad even back then (the play is set in the US just after the end of WWII). One of these characters, Joe (Bryan Cranston) is the head of the family at the centre of the play - as time moves on we get to meet the other main characters who are his wife Kate (Marianne Jean-Baptiste), his son Chris (Paapa Essiedu) and Ann (Hayley Squires) who used to be engaged to the other son Larry, who went missing in the war, with various characters holding differing views as to the likelihood of him still being alive.

And, amusingly given the presence of Marianne in the cast, the whole thing is very much about secrets and lies - it's best that I don't give too much away, but various threads are pulled during the play which results in much unravelling. It ends well though with some very tense scenes - the conclusion wasn't exactly a surprise for me but that didn't make it the wrong choice (it's also one that makes a strong comment on the "American Dream" so seems surprisingly relevant today).

As you'd expect from that cast, they do a fine job indeed - Bryan and Marianne have been doing this sort of thing for years so you suspect they could do this sort of thing in their sleep but they didn't disappoint. I'd actually seen Paapa on stage before, so Hayley was the only one I wasn't previously aware of - but it turns out she's no slouch with a couple of BAFTA nominations and an Emmy win under her belt.

The setting was actually pretty minimal - the tree stayed where it was for the entire time and that was pretty much it except for a door at the back of the stage and a couple of props that were slightly odd. One was an actual chainsaw which was used to chop a branch off the tree - it was somehow both impressive and completely pointless unless there are awards for "best use of a chainsaw on stage". And the other was a ladder which appeared to be attempting to be a humorous interlude, but how funny can a ladder be?

If I was to have a couple of other niggles, I'd say that there's a lot of times that characters are hanging around on stage with nothing particular to do. There's a lot of studying walls or being lost in thought going on - I wouldn't say it ruins anything but it is a bit distracting. There's also an interesting roster of side characters who very rarely appear and in most cases really don't move the story along at all - it was just all a bit confusing as to why they were in the first place. I guess both of these issues come with the play though so we'll just have to go the way that Arthur Miller decided to go.

Looking at the Wikipedia entry for the play, it debuted on Broadway in '47 and starred Ed Begley and Karl Malden and was directed by Elia Kazan, who later became notorious for testifying to the House Of Un-American Activities Committee. It transferred to London in '48, but interestingly, doesn't appear to have been staged again in either city until '87 - it obviously feels very relevant now though because it's been staged five times in London or New York this century. And the cast of two of the London revivals catch the eye with David Suchet and Zoe Wanamaker in one and Bill Pullman and Sally Field in the other - some proper actors there.

But I was perfectly happy to have caught this cast and very much enjoyed the show - it's well worth catching if you like a classic American play. It's also going to be made available as a National Theatre Live production in the cinema - I've seen a couple of these and they're a good way of getting to see some very decent actors in classic plays at a very reasonable price. I also enjoyed the experience of sitting in a box - even if I don't think it's one I'll necessarily be rushing back to.

Giant - A fine show with an excellent central performance