Reviewed by James Karas
Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman is a great play by an American playwright and the Stratford Festival has staged it again to its credit. The production is dramatic, superbly conceived and acted but I take issue with the set.
Willy Loman, the salesman of the title, is a man at the end of his rope. Based in New York City, he travels throughout New England, as far as Boston, showing samples and trying to sell to store buyers. Willy dreams of wealth and of achieving success in 1950’s America by being well liked.
He has instilled the same spirit in his two sons and lives with the conviction that you can “make it” without hard work.
Tom McCamus gives a signature performance as the pathetic Willy. He looks exhausted but tries to maintain his pride and belief that he and especially his sons can succeed in business despite lacking any tools such as education, integrity and hard work. He is ill-tempered and frequently explodes until he is forced to realize that his dreams and his sons’ chances of success are non-existent. McCamus takes us through the trajectory of Loman’s life with superb acting.
Willy’s sons, Biff (Joe Perry)
and Happy (Josh Johnston) are products of their father’s illusory dreams and hopes
for them. Biff returns home after spending time in the West as a farm worker
and in jail. He thinks he can approach a successful acquaintance and get money
from him to go into business with his brother. He ends up walking out with the
man’s fountain pen. He did not finish high school because he caught his father committing
adultery.
The brothers are shallow liars and pretenders in a terrific scene where they lie about their achievements to pick up two women and abandon their father in the restaurant,
Miller provides an illusory example of easy success in Uncle Ben, Willy’s imaginary brother who made a fortune in Africa. David W. Keeley, dressed in a white suit, appears as the ultimate example of success but it is all an illusion.
Miller also provides examples of
decency and success in Willy’s neighbor Charlie (Matthew Kabwe) and his son Bernard
(Raymond Strachan). Charlie gives money to Willy pretending it is a loan and
offers him a job. Bernard tries to help Biff with his studies. His neighbors
are successful through hard work. In this production they are black and that
drives the message of how to succeed in America with unerring accuracy considering
the current racist attitudes.
The most powerful and sympathetic character is Willy’s wife Linda, played by the powerful Lucy Peacock. Linda sees and knows everything but she says little and tries to support her husband and keep the family together. A stunning performance.
The problem I have is with Scott Penner’s set. The Lomans live in a mortgaged house in Brooklyn. It is surrounded by tall buildings on three sides and some windows are lit. Willy Loman famously arrives carrying his cases of samples and walks into his house. In this production he walks into the yard of his house. We see a table and a fridge and when the sons come on stage there is a bed and some furniture to the right of the “kitchen.” The problem is we are still outside and the set is incongruous, and simply wrong. Surely, we could have had a view of the tenements and a view of the kitchen and the boys’ bedroom. This was unacceptable
Death of a Salesman is a great play and director Dean Gabourie does impressive work in bringing it to the Avon Theatre. It is a cohesive, moving and indeed a splendid production. Except for the sets. _____________________
Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller opened on May 28 and continues
in repertory until October 31, 2026, at the Avon Theatre, Stratford, Ontario. www.stratfordfestival.ca
