Arthur Miller was born in Harlem, grew up in Brooklyn, and worked in the Brooklyn Shipyards in his youth. It’s therefore evident that the playwright often crossed the Brooklyn Bridge and looked down upon the Italian neighborhood where this play was originally set. But, why did he use the title, “A View From The Bridge?” What are the meanings behind this metaphor?
It occurred to me that Miller’s “View,” may also be related to “London Bridge Is Falling Down” — the nursery rhyme NYC children sang and circled to when I was a kid. Like the “Mother Goose Tales” the origin of these verses was veiled, political protests against the ruling Monarchy — at a time when traitors’ heads on spikes lined London Bridge. The last line of “London Bridge” is “… take the key and lock (him/her) up, my fair lady” and like “Musical Chairs,” bridged arms then catch the victim. Significantly, the main characters of this meaningful play are also caught “under the bridge” and “locked-up” by our government.
“A View From The Bridge,” presented by New Haven’s Long Wharf Theatre, is currently at the newly renovated Yale boat house/museum called “The Canal Dock Boathouse.” Through its ceiling to floor windows overlooking the harbor with the “Q” Bridge in the distance, the matinee performance we attended featured the natural, changing background of fog, sunlight, intermittent snowflakes, and sea gulls which seemingly on cue, added to the varying moods of the play. Some of the action, including a fight-scene, expertly directed by Sean Fleeter Griffin, takes place on the outside, wrap-around deck which is wired for sound and lighted during evening performances by Technicians, Kate McGee and Jane Shaw.
In this theatre-in-the-round presentation, Scenic Designer, You-Shin Chen, brings the audience right into the action. Multi-level platforms divide the inner rooms of this poorly furnished apartment where the jealous, longshoreman, “Eddie” (Dominick Fumusa) lives with his patient wife “Beatrice (Annie Parisse) and her attractive, coming-of-age niece, “Catherine (Paten Huges).
The whole cast gives a very believable performance. Under the sensitive direction of James Dean Palmer, Eddie is unable to come to terms with his sexual feelings towards his orphaned niece, whom the couple raised as a child. Everyone’s emotions rise to a crescendo when two, illegal immigrants “Rodolpho” (Mark Junek) and “Marco” (Antonio Magro) come to live with them and happen to find work as longshoremen alongside Eddie’s taunting friends. Acting as a Greek chorus, narrator, Patricia Black is “Alfieri,” the wise lawyer who foretells Eddie’s doom, and Mike Boland and Todd Cerveris play the strong-armed, immigration arresting officers at the end of this tragedy.
This powerful production of “A View from The Bridge” plays through March 10. Box Office: 203 693 1486