• Showing at: The REP. Birmingham, UK.
• Season: September - October 2003
• Buy Tickets
• Entertainment Rating: 88%
• Drama Rating: 92%

"A View from the Bridge" by Arthur Miller. My own personal favourite play, and would you believe it, it's showing in my own town. Naturally, being my favourite play, I had very high expectations of it and was very doubtful over whether or not this production would do Arthur Miller justice... I wasn't to be disappointed.

The play is one of Arthur Miller's most popular and famous modern tragedies. The story revolves around Eddie Carbone's (Corey Johnson, pictured) uncontrollable love for his niece Katherine. But love forces Eddie down a downward slope when he welcomes two illegal immigrants into his home - an honourable custom recognised by the Sicilian community New York at the time. As the drama unfolds, Eddie Carbone tragically pushes himself away from his community, his wife, and his niece in a downward spiral to his own peril. Miller questions the uncontrollable power of love, and the human and natural morals love can break in this powerful piece of dramatic tragedy.

The play opens with Alfieri, a central character who Miller uses to voice his own judgements on the events in the play. I must confess, however, I was rather disappointed with his portrayal, as he seemed to lack the "Obi Wan Kenobi" appearance that I had always imagined Alfieri to have. The rest of the cast seemed to be very "shallow" as characters, and I was getting very scared that maybe this wouldn't be the theatrical masterpiece that Miller had intended.

But as the tragedy revealed itself, the emotional performance of Corey Johnson brought forward all of the penetrating themes and ideas that Miller would have wished for. This was raw, pure drama - there is no other way of describing this production. You're fixated on the words, you're fixated on what's going to happen next, you're fixated on the downward spiral of Eddie Carbone. You're fixated on the play.

This was how drama is meant to be - constantly wondering what will happen next, will it be Eddie or Marco who won't settle for half? The only way to find out is to keep watching, and see things from "A view from the Bridge."

Using a brilliant combination of new and innovative prop and stage ideas, dramatic scenes really take a tight grip on you.

This play does Arthur Miller's script justice. Don't miss out on this dramatic production.

Review by Richard J Turner (14th October 2003)

Go back to homepage