A View From The Bridge, Darlington Civic Theatre

I BELIEVE part of the front row at this performance were A-level drama students: boys and girls, this is how it’s done.

One of Arthur Miller’s best-known plays, beautifully scripted, tautly directed and impeccably acted by a quality cast, and by that I mean that there is no sense that anyone is doing any acting at all. The characters, a tough longshoreman and his family, come to life before our eyes, their lives fatally intertwined, emotions running ever higher as the story heads for the climax we all know is inevitable.

Eddie Carbone (Jonathan Guy Lewis) takes in two illegal immigrants, cousins of his wife, Bea, who have come from Italy looking for a better life. One is an amiable bear of a man, who has a wife and two children in the old country relying on his earnings; the other is blond, handsome and charming in a way that makes Eddie grit his teeth.

Catherine, the niece to whom Eddie is a father figure, is swept off her feet by Rodolpho and, unable to come to terms with the relationship, Eddie’s deep love for the girl becomes destructive and his jealousy prompts him to actions which lead to tragedy for them all.

I know that Michael Brandon, who narrates as lawyer Alfieri, is a Brooklyn native and so the accent comes naturally; everyone else sounds just as authentic and speech patterns never waver.

Quality theatre on our doorstep; what a treat.

* Runs until Saturday. Box Office: 01325-486555 or darlingtoncivic.co.uk

Sue Heath