At Pewter Plough, ‘All My Sons’ delves into family drama

A fierce wind topples a memorial tree as the award-winning play “All My Sons” opens on the darkened stage of Cambria’s Pewter Plough Playhouse.

During the course of Arthur Miller’s gripping psycho-drama, directed by Gene Strohl, lives topple over as well.

Kate Keller (Janice Peters) considers the fallen tree to be yet another omen that her son Larry is still alive, even though the World War II fighter pilot has been missing in action for three years. To accept that her beloved son is truly dead means to her that there is no God and no purpose to life.

To keep the peace, her husband, Joe Keller (Tracy Mayfield), doesn’t pop the balloon of her delusion.

However, the couple’s other child, Chris (Justin Wessel), wishes his mother would face reality — as he’s anxious to acknowledge his love for his brother’s girlfriend, Ann Deever (Libby Parker).

Ann has been living in New York City since Larry went missing, and is visiting the Kellers at Chris’s invitation.

Throughout “All My Sons,” the Kellers’ neighbors drop by, eager to see Ann. They include local amateur astrologer Frank Lubey (Randall C. Lyon) and his wife, Lydia (Rayna Ortiz-Bochum). Newcomers to the neighborhood are Dr. Jim Bayliss (Timothy Linzey) and his wife, Sue (Joyce Calderone).

Youngster Bert (Gabriel Bochum) also pops in and out, as he plays neighborhood detective with Joe’s encouragement.

All are eager for news about Ann’s father, Herbert Deever, who is in prison.

He and Joe manufactured military parts during the war. Some defective warheads were insufficiently patched up and shipped out, resulting in the loss of 21 pilots’ lives.

The truth about Herb’s conviction — and why Joe Keller was set free — is revealed over the course of “All My Sons.”

Peters is terrific as the mother in extreme denial. She will not listen to reason and considers it a betrayal that her remaining son has a love interest in Ann, who he’s known all of his life.

Ann is waiting for Chris to declare his intentions and stand up to his mother, and they quarrel. It’s difficult enough for Ann to hold her head up and return to the hometown where her father shamed the family.

Ann’s brother, George Deever (Micah Anthes), arrives near the play’s end. Anthes does an excellent job of portraying the emotionally devastated George, but keeps his head down and speaks too softly.

The action takes place over the course of two days in the Kellers’ back yard, graced with white wicker furniture. Art Van Rhyn designed the set.

Although there are some cheerful conversations and exchanges in “All My Sons,” especially from the jovial Lubey and Joe, who pretends everything is fine and dandy, the entire play is a downer.

Dreams, grief, guilt and deep secrets are all intertwined. Happy endings are for Hollywood, not for Miller’s plays. Miller is best known for his play “Death of a Salesman.” In “All My Sons,” which was adapted for film in 1948 and 1987, he explores family relationships, and how people are motivated psychologically and formed by society.

On opening night of “All My Sons,” the dialog was often rapid and not always delivered clearly. Overall, the actors handled their roles well, although Wessel holds himself too stiffly, and Ortiz-Bochum needs to tone down the wriggling and giggling.

This story was originally published October 11, 2016 at 12:51 PM with the headline "At Pewter Plough, ‘All My Sons’ delves into family drama."