All My Sons, Arts Theatre, Belfast

SMALL-TOWN American 1947; the war is just three years past but its mucky fingers are still all over everything.

Local industrialist and big shot Joe Keller sits in peaceful affluence in the utopian world he has built with the rewards of his contribution to the war effort. Contented paterfamilias and monarch of all he surveys, Joe's is, indeed, a golden existence.

But wait, the omens say otherwise... a tree has blown down in his garden overnight; his wife Kate is plainly on the edge of a nervous breakdown; his son Larry has never recovered from a wartime flying mission; his younger son Chris is still haunted by the dead of the company he led; Anne Deever, the woman who was to marry Larry and is now to marry Chris has returned from New York, nursing a terrible secret; her father Steve is in, prison for his part in the death of 21 young pilots. Where does Joe fit into all this?

In Zoe Seaton's clear, pacey, new production, Elliot Huston's bluff, kindly Joe stands at the hub of the drama, stoutly denying responsibility for past indiscretions by placing them in the emotive context of family, loyalty, patriotism ... business.

His is the story of the apparent triumph of hard-headed expediencyover the prevarications of the "little man", the patsy.

Caroline McCulloch's airy, clapperboard set, all climbing ivy and blooming geraniums, perfectly places the charming illusion of the present against the horrible reality of the past. People who come to the Keller home are seduced by its superficial beauty and hospitality - but not for long.

Helena Bereen gets better and better as Kate Keller, the doting mother who is not going to give up hope for her boy's return, because in doing so she will be admitting to a far greater tragedy.

Richard Dormer comes on easy and relaxed as Chris and leaves in torment, his idealism and optimism shattered by the dark truths he is forced to confront.

Other characters are absorbed less comfortably into Miller's complex drama but the massive strength of the play and the conviction of the three central performances make for a satisfying evening.