A Day Out at All My Sons at Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch

*AD – this experience was gifted to our household for this post. All opinions, as always, are our own.

Plays and performances have been hitting the stages, now that the world is getting back to normal. We have been to a few, so far, from children’s focused plays to musicals, and have been really enjoying the energy and story. All My Sons is no exception. This play was based in America, with all of the actors putting on some really great American accents, which added a lot to the show.

But first, let’s talk about the stage. When we entered the auditorium, I really loved the look of the stage. There was a large backyard, with a sitting area and an outdoor eating area, as well as a broken tree at the front centre. At the back of the stage, which was almost shaped like a diamond, with a point out the closest to the audience, there was a giant wall, with a square cut out of it, and inside that square was an American style house, shrubs, a porch – looking like there was an entire house just beyond the wall. The play did not change scene, everything happened in this one location over the course of a few days, but the stage was very impressive. That wall, also had projects on it, to showcase the weather changing, or give a glimpse of the factory up the town, or make scenes more meaningful and impactful.

All My Sons is set in 1947, where the American dream is live and kicking after war effort going on, moving pasted their past. Joe and his wife Kate have helped with war efforts through their business, and their two sons had gone to war and fought for their country. Only one came back, but there is still hope that he may return from some of the family. The other brother, however, feels he had to not move on from the clear death of his brother, due to other people’s feelings, and as a result has his life on pause. At first, it feels like a play that is going to be all about the family accepting loss and allowing the brother to move on and get married. The thing is, he is trying to marry his brother’s girlfriend – a childhood friend who use to live on the block, but moved away to the big city.

And, more drama is showcased as it comes to light that the father, Joe, had spent some time in jail for producing faulty war equipment – something he was found not guilty of after spending a year in jail. The town thinks he got out when he actually was a cause for it, but his child does not believe he is capable of doing anything like that, especially as the faulty pieces caused the deaths of many men, who were fighting in the war, some of which his sons actually were interacting with and apart of.

All My Sons is a really captivating production, with a lot of twists and turns to the story. Every moment is really full of emotion, and the actors really showcased these different emotions well. So many of them were passionate and believable, which was really needed in this type of story, with all of the family drama, loss, and otherwise realizations about the people that they were living with. Ana, the girlfriend of both sons, was the only person that seemed content with the past and with what was going on, which made sense as she knew more than she let on. This is a truly well written and well preformed show, that is not one to miss.

You can check out our other Days Out to see what else we’ve been up too!