Period plays can be a challenge both to direct and perform, much
less sit through and try to decipher. The costumes of a play set in
the roaring 1920s may be glamorous to look at, but the underlying
social attitudes may be harder to discern. Too often, audiences
feel removed from a period piece, not knowing how to interpret
values from a bygone era.
Arthur Miller’s first major play, “All My
Sons,” which opens at the Geffen Playhouse on April 11 and
runs through May 21, was in a similar situation not too long
ago.
Set during World War II, “All My Sons” revolves
around Joe Keller and Herbert Deever, two manufacturers who turn
out faulty airplane parts and sell them to the army despite their
defects.
Deever was sent to prison for the crime, while Keller escaped
punishment and grew wealthy. But Keller’s past comes back to
haunt him as his conspiracy in the plot is unraveled bit by
bit.
A play written in 1947 about wartime crimes might have left
audiences unshaken if it had been performed in the late 1990s.
“Had it been done five years ago, (“˜All My
Sons’) would have seemed like this really ancient period
piece. I think people wouldn’t have (cared) about a dad
feeling bad about war profiteering,” said Neil Patrick
Harris, who plays Keller’s son Chris in the production.
“Now, with the daily onslaught of media coverage, I think
everyone’s a little jaded to it all. Everyone assumes
there’s people that are making money in not the most legal
ways, and there’s a lot of accepted shadiness.”
However, new life has been breathed into “All My
Sons” as the war profiteering and ramifications that Keller
struggled with are eerily similar to the current situation in
Iraq.
According to a January article in The New York Times, DHB
Industries Inc., whose Point Blank subsidiary in Florida is the
largest supplier of bulletproof vests to the U.S. Army, shipped
23,000 defective vests to soldiers in Iraq, endangering numerous
soldiers’ lives.
“Part of the reason that those faulty vests got shipped
out was in the hurry to convert our peacetime factories into
wartime profit machines,” said Randy Arney, artistic director
of the Geffen Playhouse. “In that hurry, they ended up
rushing orders that shouldn’t have gotten rushed out, and I
think a bunch of our casualties in the first six months could have
been avoided.”
Arney is also directing the play, which will continue in the
tradition of the Geffen’s 10-year quest to examine the
American experience through new and classical American plays.
When selecting pieces for this season’s lineup, Arney was
drawn to what he called the “real giants of play
writing,” including David Mamet, Tennessee Williams, and
Miller.
When it came to choosing which Miller play to produce, Arney
knew it had to be “All My Sons.”
“”˜All My Sons,’ as a war play set on the home
front, seemed (very relevant) based on the fact that we today are
fighting a war abroad,” Arney said. “So many of those
issues that (Miller) was addressing in 1947 really seem to resonate
today.”
The play is not only relevant to what’s happening in Iraq
but to larger issues involving personal responsibility for each
other and the pitfalls of the American dream.
James Goodwin, a UCLA English professor who teaches a course on
American drama, believes “All My Sons” is timely in
both specific and general terms.
“In some specific senses, the play is relevant today in
its concern with corruption and profiteering in American war
industries,” Goodwin said. “More broadly, the play
speaks to abiding issues such as the conflict between business
values and the general social good and the differences between
fathers and sons over each generation’s
expectations.”
The cast for such a forceful piece had to be carefully selected
to draw on each actor’s strengths while creating believable
chemistry between the actors. One of the central relationships in
“All My Sons” is that of Joe Keller with his son,
Chris.
For the role of Joe, Arney knew he wanted Len Cariou, a
Canadian-born actor whose work he greatly admired.
“(Cariou) is truly a man of the theater and has such
depth. Immediately when he heard of “˜All My Sons,’ he
said (to me), “˜That’s one of the great roles and I
really want to attack it,'” Arney said.
Arney next turned his attention to the role of Chris, for which
Harris came to mind. Best known for his role as Doogie Howser on
the early 1990s television show “Doogie Howser, M.D.,”
Harris has been gaining attention for his work in the theater
arena, most notably as Mark Cohen in the L.A. production of
“Rent.” Harris also has several serious straight plays
under his belt, including the 2002 Broadway production of
“Proof.”
“(Harris) has come to be known as an actor of power and
brings a lot of the qualities that the character (Chris) requires
for “˜All My Sons,'” Arney said.
Chris is an idealistic and charismatic young man, but this
facade masks his inner suspicions of his father’s
wrongdoings.
“The guy needs to be very likeable, and in some ways his
belief in his father is naive, yet you have to believe that
he’s a (war) vet who has gone through some pretty harrowing
experiences,” Arney said. “Neil (Harris) brings that
great quality of freshness and youthfulness and yet also has the
power for the deeper tones.”
Harris, who currently has a starring role as Barney Stinson on
the CBS sitcom “How I Met Your Mother,” had actually
never read the play before he found out the Geffen production was
in the works. He was drawn to the role because it seemed like the
“complete opposite extreme” from Barney.
“I was blown away by the simple structure of the
play,” Harris said. “I was excited about the
opportunity for people to see me on Monday night be this guy
(Barney), and on Tuesday night be someone entirely
different.”
Not only will Chris be the polar opposite of Barney, but as
Chris, Harris can inspire audiences to take responsibility for
their own actions.
“I hope that people will question potential wrongdoings
while they’re about to happen and appreciate that there may
be deeper consequences down the road,” he said.
Arney echoes Harris’ sentiments about what he hopes the
audience will take away from the show.
“In this time of war and peace, I think it’s
important to realize that decisions we make have ramifications
beyond ourselves,” Arney said.