THE MAN WHO HAD ALL THE LUCK - This is London

Watching Sean Holmes' fine production of this early play by Arthur Miller, it's hard to believe that it ran for only a handful of performances when it premiered in New York in 1944. As in his later works, Miller raises issues about the elusiveness of the American dream, damaging father son relationships and the unpredictable unfairness of life. Subtitled ‘A Fable’,it follows the uncannily good fortunes of David, a young Midwest car mechanic who thinks he has no special talent but somehow always comes out on top.

Whilst his father obsessively grooms his younger brother Amos for baseball stardom, David, through a series of unlikely events, gets the girl (his childhood sweetheart Hester), builds several successful businesses and sets up home. Over and over, David appears to flounder, then miraculously floats – a tricky repair has him foxed until Shaun Dingwall's Gustav appears like a highlyskilled angel who lets him take the credit; Hester's dad (having threatened to shoot him if he so much as set foot on his land) dies suddenly in a freak accident. But all around him he sees others suffering and, each time he makes good, he becomes more and more frightened that his run of luck is about to break and a major catastrophe will follow.
There isn't a weak performance in this excellent and engrossing revival which keeps you constantly on tenterhooks. Andrew Buchan's David progresses from carefree lad to increasingly troubled husband, Michelle Terry's loving Hester leaves her girlishness behind as she watches her husband's mental disintegration, and Felix Scott's Amos, forced to face a cruel reality, weeps for a wasted youth he can never recapture.
Donmar Theatre