The collaborators of the cultural section of the magazine Process –whose edition is already monthly–, publish on these pages, week by week, their critical columns (Art, Music, Theatre, Cinema, Books). They are Blanca González Rosas, Eduardo Soto Millán and Federico Álvarez del Toro, Estela Leñero, Javier Betancourt and Jorge Munguía Espitia).
MEXICO CITY (appro).- Arthur Miller’s classic has just premiered at Foro la Gruta under the direction of Diego del Río, translation and adaptation. A work of North American realism where the psychological depth, the emotional meticulousness of the story and social criticism combine to give us a drama that becomes universal from the particular.
Postwar realism in North America, pioneered by Eugene O’Neill, with Tennessee Williams and Arthur Miller as its main figures, coexists with the trends of the theater of the absurd and existentialism in Europe, reflecting the impacts of the Second World War. Particularizes in family dramas, in the deterioration and complexity of interpersonal relationships and the manifestation of a social problem in individuals. Playwrights get closer and closer to reality, breaking conventions and traditions linked to literature more than theater.
“They were all my children” is the first successful work of Arthur Miller. It marks the beginning of significant works by the author such as “The Death of a Salesman”, “The Witches of Salem” and “Panorama from the Bridge”. Many of his pieces are based on real cases. “They were all my children” is based on a story, published in a New York newspaper, by a woman who denounced her father for having sold defective parts to the US Army. Miller tells that story and builds its characters and family relationships, not as plagiarism but as a fiction of reality. He was also influenced – as pointed out in the “GradeServer” study guide – by Henrik Ibsen’s “The Wild Duck”, which deals with the problem of two partners where one has to take the blame and go to jail. A truth buried in the past that is revealed within a family.
Today’s staging, “Todos eran mis hijos”, recovers the time and makes it current. A deeply human drama with a critique of the business of war and its consequences. Diego del Río uses contemporary language in his version; for example, the horoscope of the original here is replaced by astral charts, seeking to confirm that the son who disappeared in the war is not dead; and he uses concepts like empathy to bring us closer to Miller’s story.
The naturalness and truth that the actors transmit implies an internal work capable of making us vibrate. Arcelia Ramírez stands out as the mother, who moves us and we live her contradictions, her overflowing love, her pain; and that keeping a truth wanting to deny it, finding other reasons to save her husband, well interpreted by Pepe del Río. Gonzalo de Desesarte, as the son who did return from the war and wants to marry his brother’s fiancé who disappeared from him. A presence that is increasing, that is contained and explodes. And Angélica Bauter, among others, who transforms herself on stage and gives us an ironic and cheeky neighbor.
The direction manages to integrate this good acting team. The work has rhythm, it runs, it is dynamic, and when it has to stop it stops; silences, pauses… time.
In a space with four fronts, although preference is given to the front theater with a minimum of objects, it sets us up and takes us to that family home and the surrounding neighbors. Four corners as scenic spaces outside the center. Chairs that determine it. The actors sitting outside the scene are inside; they interact, look at each other, intervene or leave. After the intermission, the location is changed, as if the point of view were different, and yes, we see the conflict explode, the plot develop based on an open secret. The design of the set, lighting and costumes by Isabel Becerril gives new meaning to the objects, and with a branch she gives us an idea of the fallen tree, the odd chairs that make an unequal ensemble, the objects that the actors themselves move fluidly modifying the space.
“They were all my children” premiered in 1947 on Broadway and ran for a year. Miller wanted it to be directed by Elia Kazan, who had just founded the Actor’s Studio with Cherly Crawford and Robert Lewis. Miller was called, along with other artists, to testify before the Committee on Un-American Activities for his critical works and the moral reflection to which he invited. Although Kazan directed “After the Fall” for him in 1964, his relationship suffered after he denounced several of his former Communist Party comrades in the witch hunt and was able to continue working. Miller tells, in his autobiography “Around Time”, of his contradictory feelings towards Kazan, although in other places he speaks of his enmity.
Just as in his time he criticized the war market and the North American model, in the present it has the same force. The Ukrainian war, for example, for the benefit of the big arms producers, an entire industry backed by the interests of Western governments. How many dead, how many soldiers upset by the experience. In the play “They were all my children” the father is accused of complicity for selling damaged material to the army and causing the death of 21 pilots. A questioned fact that is amplified throughout the work. The development is permeated with moral questions and ethical principles, with discoveries in the manner of tragedy. Miller calls “They Were All My Children” a Greco-Ibsenian work. Like “Oedipus Rex”, the letter at the end, which was questioned at the time, is the trigger for the point of view to turn and leave us surprised and sore by what it unleashes.
The premiere in Mexico of “Todos eran mis hijos” was directed by Seki Sano in 1959, whose production was praised by Juan García Ponce in the “Revista de la Universidad”, but he questioned the outdated moral criteria of the text. Now, under the direction of Diego del Río, with first-rate performances, we can enjoy a classic that responds to our time; that delves into the psychological and emotional whirlwinds of the characters, and brings them closer to our life and our times.
