The Watermill Presents – All my Sons

Douglas Rintoul’s production OF MICE AND MEN was one of The Watermill’s dramatic highlights of the year. He returns to direct his first Arthur Miller play, ALL MY SONS, one of the playwright’s early successes, Thursday 20 February to Saturday 22 March.

Doug Rintoul is delighted to have the opportunity to direct this inspirational play, ‘I came across plays by Arthur Miller, Tennessee Williams and William Inge when I was a teenager. I found them innately theatrical, human, epic, didactic, full of heart and they blew me away. They made me excited about the power of theatre.’

‘I have never directed a play by Miller so to finally direct one, and All My Sons, takes me back to a time when I discovered great playwriting. Miller’s play is perfect; it is profound, recognisable and utterly devastating and one of the greatest plays of the last century. It confronts not only events of the late 40′s but it is also a powerful indictment of our times. It is thrilling to mount a play that speaks of the now from the past. The experience is all the more powerful because it does so. One hopes that the audience will not be the same when they leave the theatre as they were when they came in. Something will have happened. And this is what excites me about live performance.’

Based on a true incident, ALL MY SONS examines the disintegration of a family torn apart by guilt. Patriarch and self-made man, Joe Keller made his money from manufacturing fighter plane engines during WWII. His wife, Kate, refuses to believe their son Larry, a fighter pilot, who has been missing for years, is dead. When Chris, his brother, decides to marry Larry’s former girlfriend, Ann, shameful secrets shake the family to its heart.

The cast is: Paul Brendan (Jim Bayliss), Pascale Burgess (Sue Bayliss) WAR HORSE, New London Theatre/ National Theatre, Adam Burton (Chris Keller), Neil Ditt (Frank Lubey) THE CAPTAIN OF KOPENICK, National Theatre, Lizzie Lewis (Lydia Lubey), Siobhan O’Kelly (Ann Deever), Thomas Padden (George Deever) T’WAS THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS,

Unicorn Theatre, Michael Thomas (Joe Keller) PEOPLE, National Theatre and tour, Jessica Turner (Kate Keller) THE SECOND MRS TANQUERAY, Rose Theatre. Young Bert is played by Alexander McQuillan, Daniel Pinnock, Rhydian Watson and George McBratney.

Thursday 20 February to Saturday 22 March

All My Sons

By Arthur Miller

Directed by Douglas Rintoul

Designed by Hayley Grindle

Lighting designed by Joshua Carr, Sound designed by Helen Atkinson