All My Sons was Arthur Miller's first commercially successful play, and for many his best. After the failure of The Man Who Had All the Luck, which ran for only four performances on Broadway, he resolved to abandon playwriting should All My Sons suffer a similar fate. Thankfully for us it did not, and Miller was subsequently able to comment on what it felt like to succeed with of one of his creations:

The success of a play, especially one's first success, is somewhat like pushing against a door which is suddenly opened from the other side. One may fall on one's face or not, but certainly a new room is opened that was always securely shut until then. For myself, the experience was invigorating. It made it possible to dream of daring more and risking more. The audience sat in silence before the unwinding of All My Sons and gasped when they should have, and I tasted that power which is reserved, I imagine, for playwrights, which is to know that by one's invention a mass of strangers has been publicly transfixed.



By common acclaim, very many of the 390 audience members who came to see this latest production at Adel Players were indeed transfixed. Staged as it was "in the round" (with audience on all four sides of the acting) the resulting intimacy served to intensify the already highly charged emotions that are built expertly by Miller as the play progresses. For all those who took part in the production it was a pleasure and a privilege to get to know this great play better, or even in some cases for the first time. We hope the pictures below serve to convey something of the feeling of the production. If you were one of our audience, do feel free to let us know what you thought on our Comments page. For cast and crew click here. And to see what others have said about our production of All My Sons see our Reviews page here.

Joe Keller, a wealthy American businessman          Mike Andrews
Kate Keller, his wife                                                Dianne Newby
Chris Keller, his son                                                Jon Holmes
Dr Jim Bayliss, a neighbour                                     David Lancaster
Sue Bayliss, Jim’s wife                                            Stella Garside
Frank Lubey, a neighbour                                      Anthony Lawton
Lydia Lubey, Frank’s wife                                      Angie Smith
Ann Deever                                                            Rachel Newby
George Deever, Ann’s brother                               Chris Andrews
Bert, a young boy living nearby                             Matthew Taylor

Director                                                  Bernard Riley
Stage Manager                                        Ron Darby
Assistant Stage Manager                           David Newby
Prompt                                                   Pat Riley
Lighting                                                  Eric Wells, Andy Smith
Sound                                                    David Newby, Sam Delves
Costumes                                               Ros Porteous
Props                                                     Carol Crossfield

Chaperones for Matthew Taylor                         Maureen and Tony Taylor
Front of House                                                    Anne Andrews, Alan Foale,
                                                                            Trish Underwood, and
                                                                            members of Adel Players