The late playwright Arthur Miller has gone in and out of style for decades, though the majority of his work has withstood the test of time and the various artistic interpretations to which his plays have been subjected. The University Theatre’s production of Miller’s “A View From the Bridge” manages to show the master’s versatility while giving a voice to some great student talent. But this does not excuse the production for a few near fatal missteps.
The play concerns Brooklyn longshoreman Eddie Carbone, who allows two of his wife’s cousins to stay in his house after the cousins sneak into the country from Italy. Eddie’s kindness begins to run short when one of the cousins takes to his niece, whom he and his wife have been caring for since childhood. Unable to rationally explain why he feels so strongly about the girl’s budding independence, he lashes out at her love interest and eventually brings the entire neighborhood down upon himself.
The production is wrapped in the stark minimalism college theater seems to do so well, but it is also not without its artistic touches. The backdrops, particularly one of the Brooklyn Bridge, have a van Gogh motif running through them that seems to be striving to add a dream-like quality to the
setting. The lighting is subtle and creative, shading the emotional content of the performances, letting the audience into a character’s mood before the mood is even expressed.
The lead roles are especially above par, with Jay Hash dominating the stage as Eddie. His performance is the driving force behind the production. Danielle Kardum, as his wife, Beatrice, counters with an equally heartfelt role limited only by the fact that it’s a supporting performance. The two have an excellent interplay, bickering with great panache.
The other supporting roles range from decent to adequate, with everyone picking up in the emotionally charged second act. There is a problem, however, that cannot be attached to any given performance. The cast often fails to give the proper emotional weight behind the material, leading the audience to occasionally laugh during a dramatic moment or to completely miss a change in a character’s mood.
The play draws from Miller’s Greek tragedy influences, detailing a man who cannot or would not control his passions. This play is a tragedy imported into a terse family situation, but until the second act much of the cast seems to be disconnected from this fact.
Though it works better as a whole, the second act also has its own problems. One of the artistic liberties
taken with the work is the addition of dancers in the background playing the roles of passersby. The decision adds useless, barely noticed white noise to the background through much of the first act. In the second, it boils over into a major blunder.
In one of the play’s most emotional scenes, Eddie calls the immigration authorities to have the two immigrants picked up, knowing full well how dishonorable his friends and family will view the act. Instead of allowing the actor to do his work and perform the scene, bombastic music blasts through the speakers, and dancers seem to take over the stage. The audience is told how to feel instead of being allowed to experience it for themselves. Eddie’s actions are not allowed to sink in with any level of subtlety and the play is provided with a false climax that draws away from the power of the closing scene.
But though these blunders limit the play’s force, they do not completely dull it. “A View From the Bridge” is one of Miller’s most emotionally powerful works, where he drops the socio-political concerns of his classics “Death of a Salesman” and “The Crucible” and focuses everything on the human element. For Hash’s performance if nothing else, the play is worth checking out. It will be running at the Robinson Theatre on March 4,5,11 and 12 at 8 p.m., March 3 at 7:30 p.m. and March 6 at 2 p.m.

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