The American Dream; the belief that anyone can achieve success with hard work and passion, has undeniably been a consistent dream of the people for generations. However, with the growing economic crisis, this dream seems far from reach for many.
The themes of Arthur Miller’s Pulitzer Prize winning play Death of a Salesman are just as prevalent today as they were when it originated in 1949. For some, the concept of the American Dream can inspire, for others it can cripple.
Death of a Salesman sees Emmy, Golden Globe and Tony Award winner Anthony LaPaglia return to the helm as Willy Loman; a proud yet stubborn, travelling salesman chasing the American dream in post-war America. Willy spent his whole life believing that charism and being well-liked was the factor to success, but the room has stopped smiling back at him. He is exhausted, tired of travelling thousands of miles on a commission that is barely paying the refrigerator bill and battling with cognitive decline.
Having to borrow money from his neighbour Charley (Marco Chiappi) just to get by, his supportive wife Linda Loman (Alison Whyte), always the peacekeeper, encourages Willy to ask for an office role in New York, from a job that just sees him as a liability at his age. As the system and the belief that he’s followed all his life slowly begins to crumble, so does Willy’s grip on reality.
Full of deluded pride and expectation, Willy had consistently pushed to instil his ideals of success and the American dream on his sons. Happy (Ben O’Toole), a womanizer and exaggerator, is the embodiment of the narrative of the American dream that has been fed to him. Biff (Josh Helman), a once promising football star turned drifting labourer, dreams of working outdoors away from the city and sales rat race.
Willy’s two sons have recently returned home and overhear their parents arguing over Biff, his perceived lack of success and goals. Biff, constantly struggling to communicate and coming to blows with Willy, eventually forces them to face the reality that he may just be another dime a dozen. Willy, stubborn and in denial, retreats.
Willy re-lives and replays memories whenever he is faced with harsh truths. Becoming increasingly irrational, and erratic, he is soon unable to distinguish memory from current reality. Through the shift in his mental state, we slowly meet the characters and the moments in Willy’s life that were the catalyst to him believing he would be more successful if he were to sacrifice his life for money.
LaPaglia’s Willy Loman is a complex and not always likeable character. Often brazen and emotionally volatile, he is a realistic view of a man tormented by success, or lack thereof. LaPaglia brilliantly balances the emotional and physical fragility of an older man’s declining health with an unshakeable, relentless need to succeed. LaPaglia excels and it is easy to see why he has been asked to reprise this incredible role.
LaPaglia is supported by the loyal Linda played by Alison Whyte. The emotionally strained mediator of the family. She knows he can be difficult but remains patient and kind, protecting him, perhaps too much. Whyte is truly captivating; she has such exemplary emotional control and performs one of the most poignant monologues at the conclusion of the play.
Much of the story circles around the crushing expectations that Willy places on his sons Happy, and particularly Biff, the older of the two. O’Toole does an excellent job portraying Happy, a man of blind ambition, embellishing the truth like his father. Whilst Ben Helman brilliantly expresses the frustration of a man burdened by a dream and expectation he doesn’t fit. Truly a standout of the show, Helman and LaPaglia come to blows in the climax of the play in a raw and emotional display of familial tension.
Death of a Salesman is contextually quite sombre and Anthony Phelan as Willy’s older brother Ben brings a refreshing element of humour that’s not too out of place due to his character’s personality.
Remaining on stage for most of the play, the whole cast is excellent and held such strong characterisation. The entire play is set on the bleachers of Ebbets Field, a baseball field where Biff the once hopeful football player played, a core catalytic memory in Willy’s life. Sat on the bleachers is the entire cast in echoed silence. Eyes of pressure; watching, observing like ghosts of his past haunting, waiting to appear. As Willy’s reality blurs, so do the scenes. It is sometimes hard to immediately grasp as the transitions are subtle, but this works well to emphasise Willy’s confusion and mental decline.
Dale Ferguson’s stage design, excellently partnered with the lighting of Niklas Pajanti, shifting the immovable set from past to present in an instant; a table and chair in the kitchen of the Loman’s house, to an evening restaurant with the addition of a cloth, a soft spotlight, a change of shirt or shift in demeanour was all it took.
Death of a Salesman is 3 hours of quality drama and vulnerability. With deeply relatable themes that confront the audience and critiques the definition of success, Death of a Salesman smartly showcases the sacrifices and falsehoods of a dream when pride gets in the way.
Written by Arthur Millar and directed by Neil Armfield, Death of a Salesman returns to Melbourne with thanks to GWB Entertainment and Andrew Henry Presents. Death of a Salesman is now showing at Melbourne’s Her Majesty’s Theatre from 11th to the 22nd August before moving onto its Brisbane run at the Lyric Theatre, QPAC 28th August to 2nd September. It then concludes in Adelaide at the Festival Theatre from 26th September to 4th October.
For more information and ticketing, visit:
https://salesmanaustralia.com.au
Photography by Jeff Busby.
