Death of a Salesman was written by Arthur Miller in 1949, and won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in the same year as well as a Tony Award for Best Play. The story follows former King of the Road Salesman Willy Lohman as he struggles to keep himself from veering completely off the highway. Behind on the mortgage, and sidelined by his boss, Willy struggles to make sense of where he lost control of his career and the future for his disappointing sons.
Performed at QPAC’s Playhouse I instantly felt a little vertigo from the height looking down from my seat to the set below, and would soon find myself looking down on the lives of these characters. I was immediately taken by the scale of the large suburban white house on stage as it covered almost the entire stage leaving only quarter of the stage out front to be used as a front yard. As audience members found their seats, the actors could be seen through the house windows milling around the bedroom or making a drink in the kitchen, living their day to day lives. Upon commencement the front of the house was swiftly lifted away revealing the inside of a house exquisitely designed by Richard Roberts, with a kitchen, living room and upstairs bedrooms.
Willy Lohman played by Peter Kowitz opens the show as he slinks his way across the stage, defeated, with briefcase in hand from another failed sales trip. I was instantly reminded of the play/film Glengarry Glen Ross, which tells the story of four real estate agents with one particularly desperate character played by Jack Lemon. His performance is so feeble and desperate The Simpsons turned his character into the hilariously pathetic Gil Gunderson and I was quick to ponder which play came first, it turns out Death of a Salesman beat Glengarry Glen Ross by thirty odd years.
Will Lohman however isn’t the only gloomy character as each member of the Lohman family appears to be tormented by their own insecurities and failures. The Lohmans eldest Biff was the apple of Will’s eye as a child, he could do no wrong and he was ‘gonna be a somebody!’ But he failed maths and didn’t get into University. Biff has spent his adulthood drifting from one lousy job to another eventually crawling back home, promising it is only temporarily until he finds a new job soon. Youngest son Happy is a chip off the old Willy block, a struggling salesman with delusions of grandeur, but in reality is already being walked over by his superiors. Mother and wife Linda Loman has spent her life unquestionably devoted to her more than questionable and unfaithful husband.
The lighting designed by Verity Hampson does a stellar job of evolving Willy’s complex neurosis, into full fledged flashback hallucinations. A beautifully crafted flashback involves multiple important memories for Willy. One being a former mistress in a bedroom adorned in the scarlet red light of sexual desire and lust. Another being Willy’s late brother who reminds him of a missed opportunity which could have altered his whole life. He appears frequently, draped in an eerie green light evoking his ghostly presence. One of Willy’s late night dialogues with himself at the kitchen table evolves as the sun blasts through the side window and he bounds out the front door and we’re taken back twenty years as his sons are playing football in the front yard where together they applaud the potential of their future. Perhaps Willy’s biggest flaw is his inability to see the truth in front of him but to conjure his own version of the truth that always leads him down a path of unmeasurable glory such as the praise his bosses will give him, the salary he and his sons are going to be making one day, even the macabre glorifying of the numbers of people from state to state that will be at his own funeral.
I have wanted to see Death of a Salesman for years and I can now say that I thoroughly enjoyed it. The performances are excellent and while there are smatterings of humour, it is ultimately an incredibly dark and depressing story offering little joy or triumph. In saying that, I can definitely recommend this impressive production. I just wish I didn’t go on Valentines day, as my partner and I walked out feeling less than romantic.
9th Feb - 2nd March
Playhouse, QPAC
Thomas Harrison