Death of a Salesman

Synopsis

Veteran salesman Willy Loman is used to spending his life 'riding on a smile and a shoeshine', but recently things haven't been so good. He seems to have lost his golden touch; his grown-up sons, Biff and Happy, no longer idolise him as they used to and he is haunted by missed opportunities and a trouble past. His wife Linda is struggling to aid her increasingly disturbed husband, as she tries to hold the family together and keep Willy from descending further into desperation. But as the truth of Willy and his sons' imperfect past begins to unravel, Willy starts to lose faith in the two things he believes in: his family, and, in Miller's words, his need 'to leave a thumbprint somewhere on the world'. Death of a Salesman burst upon the international scene in 1949 and won the Drama Critics' Circle Award, the Tony Award and the Pulitzer Prize, becoming a benchmark for modern theatre.

Our Review:

12 March 2007

Last year The Octagon staged two Arthur Miller productions; their fantastic A View From The Bridge was faultless and even when they tackled one of the master's least memorable plays, Broken Glass, it was better than many expected. So, it makes good business sense to bring the great American tragedy to this stage. This searing story of disappointment and despair has so many layers that, if performed well touches your very soul.

Mark Babych's production hits the heights during many key scenes but there are some clumsy and awkward moments which hopefully will be ironed out. Though the enduring appeal of lost soul Willy Loman, the fallen salesman who used to charm, remains.

The casting here is quite brilliant, in that each performer ratchets up the tension when uttering Miller’s timeless dialogue. David Fleeshman stoops onto the stage as yesterday’s man, Loman. The actor has a real affinity for the writing as proven by h...

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