Arthur Miller classic at Loft

Buy photos » Chris Gilbey-Smith as Rodolfo with Katharine Bayley as Catherine. (s)

ARTHUR Miller's masterpiece A View From The Bridge is brought to the stage by Leamington's Loft Theatre until June 23.

Set in the 1950s Red Hook slum quarter below Brooklyn Bridge, where the inhabitants are mostly European economic migrants, illegal entry was a thriving business despite America’s strict immigration laws - from which Miller unearthed a true story on which he based his powerful play.

Dockworker Eddie Carbone and his wife Beatrice have brought up their niece Catherine. Overly possessive, when Catherine falls in love with Rodolfo one of two illegal immigrant brothers, Eddie’s jealousy erupts and he denounces them to the immigration authorities driving the play to its climactic and tragic end.

Director William Wilkinson said: “This is a story not of kings or gods but of decent hard-working people caught up in a web of human frailties common the world over - its ingredients are universal and could occur in our own region today, particularly in close-knit communities.”

Eddie Carbone, his wife Beatrice and niece Catherine - the family at the heart of the matter - are played by Tim Willis, Wendy Morris and Katharine Bayley. William Francis and Chris Gilbey-Smith are the illegal immigrants Marco and Rodolfo, and Michael Rayns is Alfieri, the lawyer and guide through the gathering catastrophe.

Other members of the tight community are Neil Vallance, Devane Boyd, Anne Wood and Harry Sanders.

Tickets can be booked online at www.loft-theatre.co.uk or via the ticket hotline on 0844 493 4938 between 9am and 5pm Monday to Friday and, in person from the Loft Theatre box office, which can be contacted on the same low call rate number. Under 25s and NUS cardholders can purchase tickets on Monday and Tuesday evenings for just £5.

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