All My Sons

A compelling story of love, guilt and the corrupting power of greed

All My Sons is presented by arrangement with Hal Leonard Australia Pty. Ltd., on behalf of Dramatists Play Services, Inc. New York

One of the most celebrated American plays of the twentieth century, this profound and thought-provoking modern classic about personal responsibility won the 1947 New York Drama Circle Critics’ Award and the Tony Award for Best Play, catapulting Miller into the ranks of America's greatest playwrights.

Audition times: by appointment

Contact: Martin Forsey: martin.forsey@uwa.edu.au

Audition Venue: Masonic Hall, Broadway, Nedlands

Rehearsals (Sundays, Mondays and Wednesdays) commence 28^th August

Performance Venue: Dolphin Theatre, UWA

Performance dates: 4, 5, 6 (mat), 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 November

Audition: Present a short dramatic monologue in a mid American accent and read an extract from the play

Be inspired by the trailer for the recent West End Production:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=btj9Za1vOhw

All My Sons (1947) the first great success of Arthur Miller's supremely influential career, is a compelling story of love, guilt and the corrupting power of greed.

Joe Keller is alleged to have supplied World War II fighter planes with defective engines, leading to the deaths of innocent pilots - a crime for which his business partner took the fall.

One of Keller's sons, himself a pilot, is thought to have been killed in action. But his mother can't accept his death and that her dead son's fiancée has transferred her affections to her other son.

The confrontations that ensue lead to the uncovering of a shameful family secret... with terrible consequences.

All My Sons has enjoyed recent exceptional revivals, demonstrating that it is a timeless story of self-delusion.

At his best Miller has been an avenging fury, and All My Sons is Miller at his best.

Director Barry Park directed GRADS’ highly successful Cat on a Hot Tin Roof last year.

Ages are stage ages. Actors can be older or younger.

Actors do not have to be university graduates.

Scripts are available at libraries and bookshops, often published with A View From The Bridge

Roles to be cast:

Joe Keller male spoken 40 – 60 lead

A genial, uneducated but hardworking manufacturer, Joe is a heavy man of solid mind and build, a business man, but with the imprint of a labourer. When he reads, speaks, and listens, it is with the concentration of an uneducated man for whom there is still wonder in many commonly known things, a man whose judgement must be dredged out of experience and a peasant-like common sense.

Kate Keller female spoken 40 – 60 lead

Kate is nervous, compelling and truly charming. She is a woman of uncontrolled inspiration and an overwhelming capacity for love. The relationship between son and father may be the centre of attention,but she holds the key to the action. She carries the authority in the household and defines what reality is, while struggling to deny truth and reject causality. For her nothing must change; the clock has stopped.

Chris Keller male spoken 22 – 30 lead

A strong, steady everyman, Chris served in the war and returned a man with ideals and beliefs. He idolizes his father and believes in his innocence. He is, like his father, solidly built, a listener, a man capable of immense affection and loyalty. He sees himself as a martyr of sorts, an idealist; yet suspicion will grow that this is an image behind which he hides. Doubts are covered by a self-conscious presentation as an honest man, a self-denier only now able to assert his rights. He asserts an idealism that is at odds with his equally evident self-interest.

Ann Deever female spoken 21 – 29 supporting

An intelligent, lovely girl, Ann has returned home in hopes of marrying Chris. She is gentle but capable of holding fast to what she knows. She shares Chris's high ideals but believes he should not feel ashamed by his wealth. She has disowned her father whom she believes to be guilty of a crime. She has no wish to hurt anyone but is willing to do just that if the Kellers remain opposed to her marrying Chris.

George Deever male spoken 21 – 30 supporting

George is Anne’s brother, a successful attorney and WWII veteran and childhood friend of Chris’s. He returns to prevent his sister from marrying Chris and is the catalyst that destroys the Keller family. He is a soul mate of Chris, whom he greatly admired when younger. In the war, like Chris, he has been decorated for bravery. He is bitter because he has grown cynical about the ideals for which he sacrificed his own opportunities for happiness.

Frank Lubey male spoken 30 – 40 cameo

Another childhood friend, Frank was ahead of the draft. He married Lydia and with her has three small children. He is a pleasant, opinionated man, uncertain of himself, with a tendency toward peevishness when crossed, but always wanting it pleasant and neighbourly. A materialist, he lacks culture, education and real intelligence, but has made money in business, and has courted Lydia while the younger men were fighting in the war. He dabbles in astrology, lending support to Kate's refusal to acknowledge the truth about her oldest son.

Lydia Lubey female spoken 20 – 30 cameo

Frank’s wife and George’s former girlfriend, Lydia is the picture of domestic bliss and a sweet, positive example of the one-who-got-away.

Dr. Jim Bayliss male spoken 40 – 60 supporting

Jim is a successful doctor, but is frustrated with the stifling domesticity of his life. He wants to become a medical researcher, but continues in his job as it pays the bills. He is a close friend to the Keller family and spends a lot of time in their backyard. A wry self-controlled man, he is an easy talker, but with a wisp of sadness that clings even to his self-effacing humour. In his youth, he shared Chris's ideals, but has been forced to compromise to pay the bills. He is fair to his wife, but she knows how frustrated Jim feels. Jim's is the voice of disillusioned experience. If any character speaks for the playwright (Arthur Miller), it is Jim.

Sue Bayliss female spoken 40 – 60 supporting

Sue is Jim's wife: needling and dangerous but affectionate, she too is a friend of the Keller family, but is secretly resentful of what she sees as Chris’s bad idealistic influence on Jim. She is an utterly cynical woman. She dislikes Chris because his idealism, which she calls “phony”, makes Jim feel restless. She is an embittered, rather grasping woman, whose ambitions are material wealth and social acceptance. She does not at all understand the moral values that her husband shares with Chris.

Lydia Lubey female spoken 25 – 38 cameo

Frank’s wife is robust, simple, warm and affectionate, rather a stereotype of femininity. Her life is in sharp contrast to what George and Chris have gone without. Her meeting with George (at one time her boyfriend) is painful to observe, as she has the happy home life that he has forfeited. We understand why George declines her well-meant but tactless invitation to see her children.

Bert – Bert spoken 8 – 16 cameo

He is a boy who lives in the neighbourhood; he is friends with the Bayliss’ son Tommy and frequently visits the Kellers’ yard to play ‘jail’ with Joe. He appears twice in the first act of the play. Full of energy and wonder, he is one of the kids from the neighbourhood who believes Joe to be something of a hero, their chief of security, a vigilant protector of their small world.