A View from the Bridge by Arthur Miller.

A View from the Bridge by Arthur Miller.

"You won't have a friend in the world. Even those who understand will turn against you, even the ones who feel the same will despise you."

Miller's parents were immigrants. His father had a clothing manufacturing business and the family lived in prosperity in America until the Wall Street Crash. Miller became a journalist and he wrote scripts for the radio. During the second world war he worked as a shipfitter in the Brooklyn Navy Shipyard where he sets this drama. Many of the workers were Italian migrant workers and this is probably where Miller made connections for A View from the Bridge, 1955.

Miller's hallmark as a writer seems to display an ability to dramatize the attempts made by characters to find a necessary balance between the conflicting demands of private and public life.

New York's Brooklyn harbour was depicted as  a dangerous and mysterious world at the water's edge during the 40s. The dockworkers and longshoremen were poorly paid and exploited by their bosses. They( the Italians) came for work, wealth and security- things they couldn't find at home. "They were always hungry, they were offering themselves, but all they were eating was time." We also have Marco's comment that his children "eat the sunshine" because they can't provide food for them.

It is likely that Miller's idea came from a lawyer friend who had told the author about a longshoreman who had ratted to the Immigration Bureau on two brothers, his own relatives who were living illegally in his own home. His intention was to break an engagement between one of them and his niece. This is what happens in the Bridge.

Miller visited Sicily shortly after this where he witnessed groups of men gathering in the piazza desperately looking for any kind of work. Extreme poverty led to the illegal entry into the States for many of them.

Bridge was meant to be a modern version of a Greek tragedy where Eddie Carbone, the main character is led by fate towards an inevitable destiny that he is incapable of escaping from.

Red Hook, Brooklyn is the slum that faces the bay on the seaward side of Brooklyn Bridge, the gullet of New York. And yet this is where the migrant workers come to seek their fortune!

Alfieri is an Italian/American lawyer who narrates the tragic tale as well as advising

Eddie. He seems to know what the outcome will be and watches the events unfolding but he is powerless to be able to prevent them.

Eddie and his wife Beatrice have raised Catherine as their daughter although she is officially their niece. Catherine is striving for her independence from Eddie who still treats her like a baby even though she is close to 18. He objects to her short skirt and high heels and how she walks wavy as she shakes her hips. He becomes jealous of the attention she gets from the men who recognise her womanhood. Beatrice recognises this obsession for his niece and expresses her frustration at being rejected physically by Eddie without any justifiable reasons other than, " I ain't been feeling good."

Beatrice's cousins arrive, Marco and his younger brother, Rodolfo. Marco has three young children as well as a wife in Italy and his goal is to earn enough money to support them. He hopes that in 4-6 years he will be able to return to them. Rodolfo is blonde, he sings opera and jazz, can make dresses and cook. Eddie dislikes him from the first moment and thinks he is homosexual. Catherine is besotted with him and Eddie warns her off him by stating that he just wants her in order to gain American citizenship then he will divorce her.

He was so welcoming from the beginning and protective of the brothers knowing that if they are caught they will be sent back home. Beatrice retells the story of the boy who snitched on his uncle. His family pulled him down the stairs with his head bouncing like a coconut, spitting on him. The boy had to leave town and never returned.

You can quicker get back a million dollars that was stole than a word that you gave away.

When Eddie cannot resolve the situation he visits the lawyer who warns him to let Catherine go and give her his blessing. His pride won't allow this and he is adamant that the punk will not lay his hands on his precious Catherine. Sadly, he pays no heed to the advice. His action results in this great tragedy for all of the major characters.

Press Comments:

Nicola Walker talks to The Telegraph about her role as Beatrice in A View from the Bridge

Mark Strong: Arthur Miller and Me in The Sunday Telegraph

"It makes you listen to the play in a different way" Nicola Walker is interviewed by The Independent on Sunday

"My aim is the ultimate production"The Guardian talks to Ivo van Hove about A View from the Bridge

"It's going to be stark and bare and brutal" The Observer interviewsMark Strong about A View from the Bridge

Mark Strong: In His Own Words on Official London Theatre 

"I never intended to be away so long" Mark Strong talks to the Evening Standard about returning to the stage after a 12 year break to play Eddie in A View from the Bridge

BBC News on the A View from the Bridge cast

The Young Vic production of the play showing up to the 7th of June 2014.

Direction Ivo van Hove 
Design and Light 
Jan VersweyveldCostumes An D’Huys
Sound Tom Gibbons
Dramaturg Bart Van den Eynde 
UK Casting Julia Horan CDG 
US Casting Jim Carnahan CSA

With
Emun Elliott
Phoebe Fox
Michael Gould
Richard Hansell
Luke Norris
Jonah Russell
Mark Strong 

Nicola Walke

Publisher: Heinemann   ISBN: 780-435-233129

REVIEW it by Carol Naylor.

Copyright 2014. Permission must be obtained from the author before any of this article review is reproduced.