David Lan's atmospheric production is bounded by one room in the apartment block in Chicago. The beginning of the play sees the family lining up to use the communal bathroom and we get a sense of the tension created by cramped quarters and the enforced intimacy with the neighbours.
Bill Nighy plays Robert Smith, the sardonic consultant psychiatrist who makes the case that all psychometric testing has a cultural bias, an ethnocentricity which contributes to the misdiagnosis of those from other cultures. Bruce (Andrew Lincoln) is in his first year of practice and feels that Christopher may have schizophrenia.
Set in an American town in the 1940s, the play looks at the conflict between the pressure to make money and ethics or personal responsibility. The cupboards are full of metaphorical skeletons. Director Howard Davies, who two years ago directed the acclaimed production of The Iceman Cometh in London and on Broadway, has revived Miller's play in a tense and exciting production.