Festering Prejudice - Brilliant but Brutal

Arthur Miller must have been reading a skewed copy of Freud's Oedipus Complex when he wrote the brilliant but deadly A View From The Bridge.

For fear of sounding like some kind of suburban sycophant, Miller was the silent master of the stage, who managed to bag Marilyn Monroe, but could do little to sidestep the interrogations of Senator Joseph McCarthy; the experience inspired The Crucible.

In many ways he became central to America's artistic 'inner circle', largely due to his genius, less to his origins as the son of a Jewish Polish immigrant.

And yet it was his parents who probably did more to inspire this amazing play, which I had heard so much about, but never seen; still so timeless and, perhaps, a production that should be watched by Nigel Farage in the run up to next month's elections.

It is about the haves and have nots, inflamed prejudice, jealousy and unhealthy family connections, that lead to a tragic end as emotions and feelings of hatred fester in a New York tenement.

A View From A Bridge was written 60 years ago and looks at the Italian emigration to America, more to the point the illegal emigration of thousands of unemployed Italians who poured into the US, despite the passing of the 1924 Immigration Act, which was designed to stem the tide of 'foreigners' entering this land of golden opportunity.

Miller, drawing not only upon his family's humble beginnings, but also his time as a docker when life wasn't so rosy, penned this piece, perhaps, to not only point out some of life's injustices, but to also highlight how people, when they are morally, if not perhaps physically, defeated, use dirty tactics to further their cause, often with deadly consequences.



Eddie Carbone is a hard working, American longshore man, waterfront manual labourer to you and me. His wife, Beatrice and his orphaned niece Catherine, live together in Red Brook, one of Brooklyn's scummier neighbourhoods. But when Beatrice's two cousins, Marco and Rodolpho, arrive as illegal immigrants and move in with the other three, emotions fester as Eddie, under the pretext of protecting 17 year old Catherine, develops an obsessive, and unhealthy, repressed sexual interest in his teenage ward as she falls for Rodolpho.

But as Eddie's attempts to separate Catherine from her growing affections for the blonde haired songbird, Rodolpho - his workmates think he bats for t'other side - his final attempt to part them involves him reporting the very men he is giving refuge to, to the immigration authorities. They turn up, accusations are made, reprisals follow and Eddie dies at the hands of Marco, resentful at his imminent deportation as as result of the man who had once looked out for him.

This was a magnificent production that kept me spellbound for two hours. Jonathan Guy Lewis as Eddie was wonderful and, never for a minute, was I convinced that he was anything other than the rough, bigoted, narrow minded longshore man that he was.

Loveable Italian Rodolpho had all his accents in place although, initially, I felt his Italian character was bordering on too much of a stereotypical parody. Knock it down a gear and he would have been fantastic; in the event he was good but took longer to warm to.

This was a show of strong characterisations, a moody, dark set that left you feeling grateful for the joy and relative prosperity of West Yorkshire. Both Beatrice (Teresa Banham) and Daisy Boulton as Catherine, were excellent, particularly Catherine whose character changed from dependent little girl to grown, angry woman by curtain down.

At its heart A View From A Bridge is about shallow, limited lives, the prejudice that earmarks a man as homosexual because he has blonde hair and cuts out a mean dress pattern, and the sadness of life lost because of personal inadequacy.

Then, it was the Italians, now it's the Poles and the Eastern Europeans in the UK. Miller's masterpiece was of its time but, with political rhetoric fuelling the fire of prejudice it is also a play of our time and, sadly, the Alhambra wasn't full enough. With George Galloway 'in residence' just up the road, perhaps a few more should have been investing in tickets.

The theatre is said to be the great educator. Let's hope this production serves to before May 7th, it could shift the course of the election!

Until Saturday (4th April 2015) at the Alhambra