CHAPEL HILL -- CHAPEL HILL -- Headlines are filled with companies accused of using shoddy practices for personal gain, so PlayMakers Repertory Company's production of Arthur Miller's "All My Sons" is chillingly contemporary, despite the half-century since the play's premiere.
Set right after World War II, "Sons" explores the disintegration of a family on a fateful Sunday in August. Joe Keller is a successful manufacturer who lost his son Larry in the war but is now in business with his other son, Chris. Joe has recently served time in prison, accused of supplying defective parts that caused a squadron of planes to crash. Joe was exonerated, however, after testimony indicating that his partner approved the parts without Joe's knowledge.
Now Chris wants to marry the partner's daughter, Ann. The idea upsets Joe's wife, Kate, because Ann had been engaged to Larry, and Kate still believes her son is alive. Complications arrive with Ann's brother, George, who has been to see their father in prison and is now convinced Joe is the guilty party. Accusations and recriminations fly from all sides as Chris struggles to maintain his unquestioning belief in his father's integrity.
In this attack on the American dream, Miller touches on deeply disturbing themes of family, faith and honesty, the strengths of which make "Sons" a gripping work. One could wish for less obvious manipulation of plot points and characters in Miller's imitation of Greek tragedy, but the play's universality trumps any quibbles of mechanics.
Director Davis McCallum confidently guides his actors in a tautly paced staging. He is particularly adept at integrating welcome humor throughout, leavening the deepening turbulence. He makes full use of Mimi Lien's striking two-story house façade and yard full of lawn furniture, artfully enhanced by Jane Cox's natural-looking summer daylight and evening shadows.
The strong ensemble is headed by Christian Conn's moving portrayal of Chris, making his open friendliness and fierce idealism all the more pitiable as he confronts stark realities. Paul O'Brien has the right hale-fellow brashness for Joe, sympathetic in his self-delusion that family comes first at all costs. Ellen McLaughlin creates an unusually neurotic and tic-riddled Kate, a daring choice that fascinates but loses emotional punch in its spaciness. Marianne Miller's Ann is more coolly sophisticated than the script indicates, but John Brummer's George is a finely shaded portrait of barely contained hatred and shame.
With its timely theme and assured staging, PlayMakers' "Sons" will amply reward audiences with its thought-provoking messages.
