Stellar cast star in All My Sons

It's something really special - Anthony Gooley tells

By SHIRLEY BROUN

OPENING night of Arthur Miller’s celebrated play `All My Sons’ next week is set to be a history-making event as it will also represent the inaugural production for Sydney’s newest theatre venue Eternity Playhouse.

Anthony Gooley plays the role of George Deever in Arthur Miller's `All My Sons', opening November 5.

Cast and crew are excited about being a part of both the play, which previews tomorrow (November 1) and opens on November 5, and the launch of such a vibrant new live performance theatre.

Actor Anthony Gooley, who plays the role of George Deever in `All My Sons’, said he could not think of a more appropriate venue for the production.

Epic old school grandeur

“The Eternity Playhouse, with its stunning architecture and brand new state-of-the-art facilities, is a great venue. It seats about 200 in what is reminiscent of an old chapel style setting (a repurposed Burton Street Tabernacle) complete with high ceilings and epic `old school’ grandeur. And Arthur Miller’s play `All My Sons’ is set around life in post-World War II America. It’s just perfect,” he said.

Anthony, who graduated from NIDA in 2007, said appearing in the first ever production at the Eternity Playhouse was something very special. “Not only will we be presenting a powerful play that audiences haven’t experienced before but also celebrating the launch of something very special. There is a huge demand for venues of this quality, especially for independent productions.”

Family and friends of the popular actor will all be attending on opening night. “They wouldn’t miss it,” said Anthony, whose stage entrance isn’t until the second half.

Stellar cast

Marshall Napier (Cat on a Hot Tin Roof) leads a stellar cast including Toni Scanlan, Briallen Clarke, Robin Goldsworthy, Andrew Henry, Mary Rachel Brown, Angus Moore, Zac Ynfante, Meredith Penman and of course, Anthony Gooley.

Anthony said the play is a powerful story of patriotic duty, family ties and personal greed and is set in 1947 in mid-west America. The lead character Joe Keller is a proud family man, successful business owner and local hero. But when he places the family’s prosperity above the lives of others, there are devastating consequences for all.

`All My Sons’ shot Arthur Miller into the ranks of America’s greatest playwrights and Anthony said it was a great honour to be among the cast to present it to Sydney audiences.

TV, stage and films

The talented actor has a string of television and stage productions to his credit including Underbelly 3: The Golden Mile, Packed To The Rafters, Tough Nuts, Satisfaction and Home And Away on the small screen and numerous commercials.

While Anthony, who grew up in the country NSW town of Mudgee, would like to do more film work in the future, his passion right now is stage productions. “I love to act no matter what medium but at the moment my first passion is for theatre, probably because I have more experience and spent more time in this area. But I don’t like to limit myself,” he said.

His first big break after drama school was a role in `Death of a Salesman’ working alongside Australia’s international star Jackie Weaver.

Award-winning performance

Anthony also won a Sydney Theatre Award for his performance as Rochester in The Libertine (Sport For Jove/Darlinghurst Theatre). His other theatre credits include Toby Schmitz’s Empire (Rocksurfers Theatre), Tom in The Glass Menagerie (The State Theatre Company of South Australia), Biff in Death Of A Salesman (The Ensemble Theatre), Prior in Angels In America (The Riverside Theatre), Orsino in Twelfth Night (Sport For Jove), Brutus in Julius Caesar and Solyony in Three Sisters (Cry Havoc), Othello and The Comedy Of Errors (Sport For Jove), Rope (TRS), and S-27 and Orestes 2.0 (Griffin Independent). Whilst at NIDA, he appeared in Barrie Kosky’s The Lost Echo (The Sydney Theatre).

Theatre-goers can see Anthony with the full cast of All My Sons at the Eternity Playhouse, 39 Burton Street, Darlinghurst, from November 5 for a month of performances.

Darlinghurst Theatre Company Director Glenn Terry said, “We believe a theatre ought to be a vibrant, inspiring and welcoming place, and our new home, the Eternity Playhouse, will be just that.”

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