Geoff Elliott Directs a Powerful ‘All My Sons’

Geoff Elliott as Joe Keller with Deborah Strang as Kate Keller. – Photo by Craig Schwartz

By May S. Ruiz

 Geoff Elliott, co-artistic director (with his wife, Julia) of famed Pasadena repertory company A Noise Within (ANW), and solo-directing this time, claims he is an actor first. This is most assuredly evident when you watch him on stage as he embodies the complex character, Joe Keller, paterfamilias in this 1947 Arthur Miller play, All My Sons.

Beacon’s Nathaniel Cayanan, in his review of ANW’s production, says, “Throughout the play, we’re put on a roller-coaster in which we’re at one point laughing at the liveliness and charm of Joe Keller, skillfully played by … Geoff Elliott, but at another point instantly entranced by the intense conflict boiling beneath the surface.”

That Mr. Elliott is acting on stage while steering the course of the play is what makes his performance extraordinarily masterful. He has wonderfully balanced his dual job of breathing life into Miller’s embattled Joe Keller and extracting the best work from his cast of talented actors.

As Mr. Elliott describes it: “For actors, it’s very much about me and you – the two of us – in the scene and what’s happening between us. The director, on the other hand, has a global perspective – he is thinking about the performances, and all other aspects of the production like the lighting, the sound, the set, the costumes.”

“Acting and directing are two very different experiences. But while the processes actors and directors go through are vastly different,” Mr. Elliott opines, “I think it’s healthy for all directors to have been actors at one point in their life, or at least to have trained because it’s really hard to know how vulnerable an actor is until you’ve done it yourself. I personally often find that there’s something missing when directors who have never acted try to articulate what it is they want to happen.”

Continues Mr. Elliott: “All actors bring something you’re not thinking of when you’re visualizing it. It is when you get in the room with other artists that you begin to understand the play and where it needs to go. You have so many bright ideas before you go into the rehearsal room but you get in there and so much of what goes on is informed by those actors and what they’re bringing to it. If you cast a production well you can trust they’re going to bring some really exciting stuff. I think a good director really pays attention to what the other artists are doing and helps them move along in that direction. You’re enlivened by the choices they’re making and that can make you think of something that enhances the play.”

It is quite obvious then that Mr. Elliott has collaborated well with all the performers in ANW’s production of All My Sons. His passion for the play and his directorial choices made it a very realistic representation of life. As Mr. Cayanan further says in his review: “However complex, this plot could have very easily been an overly melodramatic interpretation, but instead the play is well handled by a creative team that adeptly presents a very real and raw story of an American family of yesterday (and even today).”

Asked if their iteration of this play is an homage to the late great playwright, Mr. Elliott responds: “It may probably end up being such although I don’t know that we necessarily had that in mind. But the greater reason for doing it is because of the fact that it’s an extraordinary masterpiece, and it’s so timely. This play could have been written yesterday. It will always be as timely as when he wrote it in 1947 – it’s true now as it was then.”

Mr. Elliott elaborates on the play’s plot and his approach to it: “This play is about young love, and deep familial love. These are people who will sacrifice anything and everything to take care of their family and the ones who are precious to them. In the same vein, this is very much an ensemble piece, one that’s driven by performance, and it couldn’t be delivered without a magnificent company of actors, many of whom have been together for 20 years. This is among the most personally meaningful plays I have ever directed, and All My Sons is a wonderful introduction both to Arthur Miller and the work we do here at A Noise Within.”

“I hope people see themselves as they watch the play and understand that this is happening today. Decisions that hurt people are being made every day in America’s board rooms,” Mr. Elliott concludes. He hopes people take home with them a lesson that Arthur Miller wanted to get through – past actions can come back to haunt us.

Under Geoff Elliott’s accomplished direction, A Noise Within’s All My Sons has created a memorable and soaring tribute to Arthur Miller’s legacy as a foremost American playwright. Mr. Elliott is proud of what they have produced and he hopes it proves to be an unforgettable theatre experience for many.

All My Sons, Arthur Miller’s Tony Award-winning first hit play, is the third offering in ANW’s 2015-2016 Breaking and Entering Season. Other cast members include Deborah Strang As Kate Keller, Rafael Goldstein as Chris Keller, Maegan McConnell as Ann Deever, Aaron Blakely as George Deever, Jeremy Rabb as Jim Bayliss, June Carryl as Sue Bayliss, E.K. Dagenfield as Frank Lubey, Natalie Reiko as Lydia Lubey, and Vega Pierce-English as Bert.  The show opened on October 17, which would have been Arthur Miller’s 100^th birthday, and goes on stage through Saturday, November 21 with both a 2 p.m. matinee and evening performance at 8 p.m.

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