About the Play:

All My Sons was one of Royal National Theatre of Britain's top 100 plays of the 20th century.

All My Sons has long been a favourite of acting teachers for Male Monologues, Female/Female Scenes, Female/Male Scenes, and Male/Male Scenes.

All My Sons is a full-length drama by Arthur Miller. World War II is over and Joe and Kate Keller have established a thriving business. But nothing lasts forever and their contented lives, already shadowed by the loss of their eldest boy to war, are about to shatter. With the return of a figure from the past, long buried truths are forced to the surface and the price of their American dream is laid bare. A classic of the American theatre, All My Sons is especially recommended for school and contest use.

All My Sons is a tremendously impressive story about a prosperous family with tragic secrets. The Keller family is grappling with choices made during WWII and the questionable ethics of its patriarch. Set shortly after World War II, the plot centers around a man who became rich as a manufacturer of substandard war materials in a conflict that took one of his sons and imprisoned a colleague. During the war Joe Keller and Herbert Deever ran a machine shop which made airplane parts. Deever was sent to prison because the firm turned out defective parts, causing the deaths of many men. Keller lied, went free, and made a lot of money. The twin shadows of this catastrophe and the fact that the young Keller son was reported missing during the war dominate the action. The love blossoming between Chris Keller and Ann Deever, the bitterness of George Deever returned from the war to find his father in prison and his father's partner free, are all set in a structure of almost unbearable power. Joe is destined to face old dilemmas and defend his decisions in this searing expose of war profiteering and the capitalistic ethic. The climax showing the reaction of a son to his guilty father is fitting conclusion to a family drama electrifying in its intensity. All My Sons is based on a true story Arthur Miller read in a newspaper.

All My Sons premiered in 1947 on Broadway at the Coronet Theatre in New York City. Winning both the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award for Best New Play and the Tony for Best Author, it established Arthur Miller as a leading voice in the American theatre. The play has enjoyed numerous award-winning revivals and tours and has become a favourite scene study vehicle in acting classes and workshops. It is regularly performed in regional, middle school, high school, college, and community theatre productions.

Cast: 4 female, 6 male

What people say:

"All My Sons ... remains as timely as it is timeless about pointing your finger at someone else rather than soil your own reputation by taking responsibility for your own actions, a personality trait all too evident in today's society." — BroadwayWorld

"Nothing about All My Sons is dated. An elegy for a lost America, Arthur Miller's insightful play blazes across the stage like some hurtling comet, trailing sparks of sputtering white heat. Its moral indictment of profiteering at the expense of human misery is as topical today as tomorrow's headlines." — The Spectator

About the Playwright:

Arthur Miller (1915-2005) is considered one of the great American playwrights. During the Depression, finances were scarce and he paid for his college tuition by working as a shipping clerk in a New York factory. He later wrote his first plays in college. With a career that spanned over 50 years, he wrote more than thirty plays that transformed American Theatre and proved to be both the conscience and redemption of the times. His probing dramas received many awards in his lifetime, including two Emmy awards and three Tony Awards for his plays, a Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement, and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1949, for Death of a Salesman.