REVIEW: All My Sons – at the Festival Theatre, Malvern, from Tuesday, April 21 until Saturday, April 25, 2015.

THIS play was Arthur Miller’s first major stage success and is being performed in what would have been his centenary year.

It’s said to be based on a true conspiracy story he was shown in an Ohio newspaper about defective aircraft engines destined for military use in the Second World War being signed off and the inevitable repercussions.

Presented by the Talawa Theatre Company, the UK’s primary black-led touring troupe, we are taken back to 1947 and an all-American couple, Joe and Kate Keller, who are living not just with the ghosts of the war but some veritable demons they will soon have to confront.

Although written shortly after the end of hostilities it nevertheless still reflects on contemporary society in the way it shows how businesses, especially in the arms trade, have always made money out of warfare.

Joe runs a factory in a mid-west country town which had been making vital components for planes but now, in peace time, successfully churns out parts for household items such as fridges.

He’s a pillar of society but harbours a dark secret that his action in allowing a batch of faulty engine parts to leave his factory left 121 wartime pilots, including his son, dead! A friend went to jail... he cleared his name and was freed. But the neighbours and others still suspect.

All appears well on the surface in the yard of the Kellers’ clapboard home, but the omens are there that the calm waters are about to foam – especially when a memorial tree for Larry, their missing in action son, snaps in a storm.

Miller, as became the norm, focussed on families and friends, and their relationships, and this production set the standard. This latest revival moves along at a steady pace but might be better for a little tightening in areas, but there’s no getting away that Miller’s dialogue is brilliant and brutal.

He has honesty and corruption as tangled foes, along with guilt and greed, and ensures a gripping production even though the ending might be deemed fairly predictable.

Is the family really that happy and together? You can bet your bottom dollar those simmering tensions will boil over and a host of credible roles, under the astute guidance of Michael Buffong, delivers this powerful drama to near perfection.

Malvern is the final leg of the production’s all too brief tour and an outstanding cast has really honed their performances, particularly Kemi-Bo Jacobs as Ann, the fiancée of the lost in action son, and Ray Shell’s top class portrayal of jovial Joe, a man attempting to stay one step ahead of his past.

It’s a totally compelling and absorbing offering.