Complicating his mother’s belief in Larry’s return, is that her younger son Chris (Paapa Essiedu) has been getting romantically close to Larry’s former fiancée Ann Deever (Hayley Squires).  The elephant in the room is a criminal case when Joe Keller (Bryan Cranston) and his factory foreman Steve Deever had been accused of knowingly supplying cracked cylinder heads to the US Air Force.  21 pilots died from flying in planes with these defective engine parts.  Joe Keller was cleared after he wasn’t at his factory that day, off sick, and Steve Deevers, Ann’s father, who took the blame is serving time in prison. 

Arthur Miller’s story is based on a real life case of an Ohio manufacturer, Wright Aeronautical Corporation who had conspired with army investigators to pass defective aircraft parts. Joe Keller’s defence is that he did it for his family.  Joe Keller was under pressure to produce the parts and thought the defects would be noticed later.  If he had rejected the parts he would have defaulted on a time sensitive contract and his firm would have gone under. Chris is now in his father’s business and tells Ann that he will make them rich.  So we have the American Dream of successful capitalism.

Dominating Versweyveld’s set apart from the fallen tree is a large circle in the backdrop, sometimes lit as a sun or a moon through which we can see one of the characters in the immediate Keller family.  It is as though they are looking down on the action on stage, anonymously overhearing what is being said.  Joe Keller is trying to protect his wife and her belief in Larry’s return and Ann being Larry’s girl. Van Hove’s production has a ’cello playing softly in the background throughout.