A foghorn blasts its portentous omen to announce the opening of Canberra Rep's powerful and compelling production of Arthur Miller's A View from the Bridge.

Far below the Brooklyn Bridge lies the dockland region of Red Hook, where the longshoremen struggle to eke out an existence and provide for their families. As chorus to the unfolding tragedy, dockland lawyer Alfieri (David Bennett) introduces the play's tragic hero, Eddie Carbone (Knox Peden) and sets the scene for the fall of a good man, an angel to his wife Beatrice (Karen Vickery) and beloved uncle to his orphaned niece Catherine (Karina Hudson).

The catalyst for his inevitable decline is the arrival of Marco (Chris Zuber) and Rodolpho (Alexander Clubb), illegal immigrants from Eddie's native Sicily. Eighteen-year-old Catherine's attraction to the young Rodolpho becomes the spark to light Eddie's black and possessive imaginings, and in the traditions of a Greek tragedy, unleash the destructive forces of obsession, jealousy, self-loathing and betrayal.

As Eddie descends into the chasm of his own delusion, Alfieri bridges the two cultures with his voice of reason and compassion while Beatrice clings desperately to her role as mediator in Eddie's irrational search for justice and honour. Ultimately, they are all caught up in the unforeseen and tragic consequences of their actions.

Director Chris Baldock's vision is evocative and faithful to Miller's gripping narrative. His set design, though visually aesthetic with its blend of timber and netting suggestive of the docks and with a prominent backdrop of the Brooklyn Bridge, struck me as somewhat excessive. Baldock's imaginative employment of the play's neighbours as an omniscient Chorus may have given a supporting cast greater involvement in the drama with introduced soundscapes and choral accompaniment, but it risked distraction from Miller's more direct interaction.

What is indisputable is the quality of the central performances and Baldock's clear-sighted direction of his outstanding cast. Like Miller protagonists Willie Loman, John Proctor and Joe Keller before him, Eddie Carbone is a victim of circumstances beyond his control. He is subjected to the forces of destiny and Peden gives a harrowing and towering performance of a man obsessed and defiantly bent on his own destruction.

Vickery, as Beatrice, captures the sheer pathos of a loyal wife, trapped in a web of rejection. It is a performance of nuance, ultimately resigned to accept the powerlessness of her position. Karina Hudson is an exciting newcomer to the Canberra theatre scene. Her Catherine is alarmingly natural, mercurial in the emotional rollercoaster of her role. Zuber erupts with the hot-blooded indignation of the Sicilian, charting with surprising force the journey from the gentle immigrant to the raging avenger. Chubb's Rodolpho lends the role a charm and innocence as well as a fine singing voice that subtly suggests the mood of a moment.

Miller's characters are real, their stories often painful and revelatory in his appraisal of human virtue and failing. Canberra Rep has offered audiences a rare opportunity to see an excellent production of Arthur Miller's seldom staged A View from the Bridge. Don't miss it.