“… taut, unflinching piece of theatre …”
Alethea Mouhtouris
4.5 Stars
Venue: New Theatre
Sydney (Newtown)
Dates: Until 5th September 2026
There’s a quiet, simmering rage throughout this production of A View From The Bridge that expands and fills the stage until the play reaches its inevitable, savage conclusion.
In this rendition of Arthur Miller’s iconic play, the themes appear as relevant today as they were in the 1950s – immigration enforcement, fear of others unlike us, and betrayal: family against family, neighbour against neighbour.
It is centred on a Brooklyn tenement in the 1950s, home to waterfront worker Eddie Carbone, his wife Beatrice, and her orphaned niece, Catherine. The three live in what appears to be relative harmony, until Bea’s two cousins, father of three Marco and his brother Rodolpho, arrive illegally from Italy to work and send money home. But when Rodolpho and Catherine decide to marry, Eddie is unable to manage his feelings and the relationships explode.
Arthur Miller’s plays tap into ordinary life, revealing the foibles and fragilities of mankind. Men bring the anger, the arrogance, the ego, while the women pivot around them. It’s a concept that is set in place immediately, with lawyer Alfieri (Elena Pavli) acting as narrator, or Greek chorus, laying out the story of this seemingly normal family and observing the consequences.
Casting Pavli as a female Alfieri is inspired. As voice of the law, Alfieri is the bridge from the old Italy to the new America. Pavli portrays the lawyer with both poise and worry, trying to explain to Eddie the difference between the more traditional moral justice and the law, all the time knowing she will fail. It highlights the often silent but critical role women play, not only in the 50s but to this day. Conciliator, arbitrator, often carrying the emotional load for relationships.
Equally, Eddie’s wife Bea (Megan Elizabeth Kennedy) is the one who sees everything, and acts the bridge between her husband and niece, husband and cousins. Kennedy plays her with a unique mix of poise, steeliness, and perceptiveness as she fights for her marriage. Kennedy shows Bea’s torment through every word and action.
Georgia Da Silva as niece Catherine showcases her character’s growth from naïve young girl to young woman in love. At the beginning, Da Silva has lightness and energy, flitting around, full of ease and excitement about finding a job. But as the reality of the situation sets in, Da
Silva is visibly burdened, her lightness gone. Da Silva is a treat to watch.
Brothers Marco (Jonathon Nicola) and Rodolpho (Finn Couzner) are very different in nature. Nicola does a great job portraying Marco as responsible father with focus on providing for his family back home. Couzner as Rodolpho is a little uneven; the pivot from overtly camp
singer to ardent lover is somewhat unrealistic.
But it is Alex Bryant-Smith who steals the scene through his portrayal of Carbone, at first a sympathetic father figure to Catherine, a caring if emotionally absent husband to Bea. But as Carbone’s position of superior male is threatened by the two new arrivals, Bryant-Smith swells into puffery and palpable fury, almost silverback in characterisation. The boxing scene in particular is charged with tension, and both Bryant-Smith and Couzner do a great job in facing each other off without either man able to say what the fight is actually about.
Co-directors Luke J. Visentin and Louise Fischer bring this iconic play vividly to life. The intent is clear and consistent throughout the production, and a brief dance sequence towards the end is Greek drama-like, showing the swirling and rising emotions of all characters.
Tom Bannerman’s set is very clever. It featured two sets of tenement-style stairs that transitioned to carve out spaces – inside the home, out on the steps, Catherine’s bedroom, a podium for the lawyer, a dock for the illegal immigrant.
About 70 years after it was written, Carbone’s drive for external validation feels uncomfortably familiar. This New Theatre production doesn’t strive to prove that point – it simply lets the play do what it’s always done. This is a production that trusts its source material and its cast in equal measure – a taut, unflinching piece of theatre that does full justice to one of Miller’s finest plays.
photos by Bob Seary
Alethea Mouhtouris, Theatre Now
