That Arthur Miller’s 1955 tragedy A View from the Bridge has been too rarely revived in recent decades is apparent from the absence of any reviews later than 1969 in The Oxford Times’s cuttings library. Last week’s revival at the North Wall by Oxford Theatre Guild would therefore always have been welcome; what doubly distinguished the production was the top-class acting of every member of the cast.

One suspected that here, possibly, was a show in which a riveting performance by the actor in the principal role had inspired his colleagues into giving of their best.

Adam Potterton (pictured, right) certainly excelled as the tough-cookie Brooklyn longshoreman, Eddie, who precipitates disaster though his fatal obsession with the orphan niece he has taken into his home. Catherine (Jessica Welch) is herself not unaware of the feelings she has stirred in her uncle, which gives an added dimension to the drama.

As so often in life, it is jealousy that propels the drama to its climax. Sicilian relatives Rodolpho (Nathan Peter Grassi (pictured, left) and his elder brother Marco (Tim Younger) — illegal immigrants both — arrive to live with the family, working to supply funds for their folks back home. Catherine falls for the former, a wise-cracking Jack the lad.

Eddie affects to believe — partly on the basis of the boy’s dress-designing skills — that he is a homosexual, intent on marriage to Catherine simply as a means of securing US citizenship. Of course, the true cause of Eddie’s animus is obvious to most, and certainly to his loyal wife Beatrice (Ida Persson), whose sage counselling persuades Catherine not to submit to emotional blackmail.

That tragic consequences are inevitable is understood early on by the lawyer Alfieri (David Guthrie) whose function in the play is mainly that of a chorus but who is occasionally a participant in the action.

Congratulations are due to all concerned in this production, not least the director Alex Nicholls.