It seemed apt to pick this from my shelves this week, what with the return of Donald Trump to the White House. All that negative talk about immigration and questions regarding the right to become a citizen if born to in the States is rather depressing. I wish I could see a positive side to all of this; I think that the only thing I can find is that I'm far away from it, something I'm jolly grateful for.
The United States, that melting pot of the world's cultures, seems to have a patchy record when it comes to who is allowed to visit/live or not. Clearly the 1950s Miller writes about here was another period where the arrival for those seeking a new life without permission was a very big deal.
Eddie Carbone works down at the waterfront in Red Hook. He's a simple man who works hard and takes advantage of the benefits of unloading cargo from on occasion. He lives in a small apartment with his wife and his neice, a young girl who is quickly turning into a woman. We see from early on that Eddie's relationship with his neice, Catherine, is odd. While wanting to control the women in his life, she's able to get away with things if she plays her cards right and if her aunt pulls some strings.
Catherine's already on the verge of moving out from the family setting. She's been offered a job a little way from their home and is keen to leave school to take it. Eddie is struggling with the idea that she might grow away from them and puts his foot down hard.
Entering the picture are two of his wife's cousins, Maro and Rodolpho. They enter the country illegaly from Italy, Marco to support his family and Rodolpho to start a new life. They bring with them a strong sense of pride and in their traditional values as well as a host of problems for Eddie. Putting up illegal immigrants is a crime in terms of the law, grassing up those who have the courage to house them is a crime in terms of the community.
It's not a spoiler to say that it's all going to unravel in an unpleasant way. Eddie's lawyer offers a narration that offers a sense of foreboding. The two brothers rock the boat more that it can stand and the world of the Carbone family is clearly going to sink fast unless someone can intervene.
It's incredible to me that such an intricate and gripping tale can be told in this short a space of time. Stage directions and acting notes make everything vividly clear, but the dialogue constanlty accelerates to plot to it's next stages.
A View From The Bridge is a really good read. I've never seen it on the stage, but if it comes to town I'll be at the head of the queue for tickets.
No comments:
Post a Comment