The last time Bryan Cranston teamed up with Belgian theatre director Ivo van Hove – for “Network” at the National Theatre, then Broadway – it bagged the “Breaking Bad” star Olivier and Tony awards for best actor. “Only a fool would bet against a repeat triumph now,” said Fiona Mountford in The i Paper. I have never seen a better production of “All My Sons”, Arthur Miller’s 1947 classic about a toxic filial inheritance, and the rotten heart of the American dream. In this stunning new production, playing at just over two hours without an interval, the drama assumes the “grim yet towering momentum, inexorability and universality of a Greek tragedy”. Cranston, as Joe Keller, gives a “magnificent performance of craggy, rugged resilience tempered with affability”.
Cranston and Marianne Jean-Baptiste, playing his wife Kate, are “pitch perfect” as a couple “shutting out unbearable wartime truths”, said Nick Curtis in The London Standard. Their son, Larry, a pilot, has been missing in action for three years, while Joe’s business partner has been convicted of supplying defective equipment that cost pilots’ lives. Hayley Squires lends a “quiet gravitas” to Ann, Larry’s former girlfriend. But for all the first-rate acting on show, the performance “you walk out talking about” is that of Paapa Essiedu as the Kellers’ surviving son Chris, said Dominic Maxwell in The Times. His “ascent from affable shrugs to righteous rants is plausible, compelling, freshly minted”.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
What’s the best way to use your year-end bonus?the explainer Pay down debt, add it to an emergency fund or put it toward retirement
-
What are portable mortgages and how do they work?the explainer Homeowners can transfer their old rates to a new property in the UK and Canada. The Trump administration is considering making it possible in the US.
-
10 concert tours to see this winterThe Week Recommends Keep cozy this winter with a series of concerts from big-name artists
