Members of the audience sit in bleachers on both sides of the open stage, so close to the action they share the same breathing space with the actors, all members of the original British production. There are absolutely no furnishings in this unprotected space, nowhere to sit and nowhere to hide. “Home” is a featureless square space in this expressionistic production, hemmed in by low benches on two sides, a rear door that opens to an ominous black hole, and a low flat ceiling like the top of a box. In a wordless prologue that delivers the same message in figurative language, Eddie and his best friend, Louis (Richard Hansell), stand in a rusty haze of polluted air, stripping off their work clothes and slowly washing themselves before heading home from another hard day on the docks. Van Hove and his longtime scenic and lighting designer, Jan Versweyveld, have been almost fanatically faithful to Miller’s vision by literally stripping the play down to its elemental structure. Like those monarchs, he keeps protective watch over his little kingdom, while refusing to see what he doesn’t want to see. Like the kings of ancient Greek tragedies, Eddie Carbone (Strong, who won an Olivier Award for his superb performance) is a respected leader in his Brooklyn neighborhood, a man of honor whom his Italian immigrant neighbors look up to and depend on for guidance. Miller always envisioned his protagonist as a blue-collar version of a classic tragic hero. The show, anchored by a towering performance from Mark Strong as a longshoreman whose willful blindness causes his whole world to come crashing down, is both visually gorgeous and an emotional wipeout.

Breathe, everybody, breathe! Audiences really need to be reminded of that at the end of Ivo Van Hove’s magnificent production for the Young Vic of “ A View From the Bridge,” Arthur Miller’s gut-wrenching 1956 domestic tragedy about a family of Italian immigrants living in Red Hook in the 1950s, a cruel era for immigrants.

A view from the bridge