Death of a Salesman
Written by Arthur Miller

Theatre:  Circa Theatre
Director: Susan Wilson
Running time: 150 minutes

Cast:
Willy Loman - George Henare
Linda Loman - Jennifer Ludlam
Biff Loman - Jason Whyte
Happy Loman - Simon Vincent
Bernard - Robert Tripe
The Woman - Jane Waddell
Charley - K C Kelly
Uncle Ben - Ken Blackburn
Howard Wagner/ Stanley - Julian Wilson
Jenny / Letta - Julia Watkin
Miss Forsythe - Renee Sheridan

Some themes are universal to the human experience, and plays, books, films or stories that work on this basis tend to become classics, whereas others sink into the obscurity that they deserve.  Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman, which I recently saw at Circa in Wellington, is one of the former and anything with werewolves given fancy names and goth vampires is one of the latter.

The Circa production is reasonably faithful to the original work, situating itself in the author's intended period, and using the appropriate language and customs of that time.  The problem with this faithfulness is that cultural references and language have moved on substantially in the last fifty years, and for the sake of completeness Circa has provided a glossary of terms.  While this is useful, it does raise the question about whether to update a play for the convenience of the audience, or produce something exactly as the playwright intended?  I assume its probably easier to do the latter, and hey, it works.  The important thing is that the Circa production did seem authentic, the costumes, the language, all worked together to evoke early post-War New York, which 9/10 people agree is the best kind.  It was believable and the production values high enough not to detract from the actor’s performances.

It sounds simplistic and obvious, but the title 'Death of a Salesman' really does accurately summarise the play, no abstractness for the sake of it for Arthur Miller! Willy Loman is a life-long salesman, his job suffuses his very nature, and despite his lack of success in this profession it determines his interaction with everyone; customers, friends and family.  He constantly needs to sell himself to all these people, some believe the pitch (his children), most do not (his friends, employers), but all live with the consequences as long as they can bare it.  Where reality does not match the pitch it is ignored by Loman, despite the ill effects on his life and those he cares about.  Consumed by two lasting regrets, his failure to take an opportunity to start afresh in Alaska, and the failure of his golden boy son, Biff, to make a success of his life, Loman works himself into a state where he believes only his death can set right all that has gone wrong with his life, and that of his family.  I suspect there are elements of Loman Snr. and Jnr. in most people, the desire to look successful and interesting to others, the desire to be remembered well, to see your family do well, and to talk yourself up to others. This is the power of this play, the character of Loman especially just works really well, clearly portraying all these personality features to the audience.  A flawed mirror for us all to see ourselves in.

This requires that the person playing Willy Loman be someone of significant stature, to be able to portray this complex range of emotions, of regret, fear, pride and the like. George Henare does this role justice, his acting style has a weight to it that makes him believable as Loman, especially when he delivers the line "He is not well liked".  Jason Whyte plays Biff Loman, perhaps the other key role, satisfactorily as well, with the energy and lethargy that the role requires, although sometimes it was hard to believe him to be a star football player. That being said, he did get the necessary angst ridden pathos down nicely.  My only real problem with the acting is that since the actors are local, their assumed accents did slip occasionally, which conflicts with the drive for authenticity that the rest of the production exhibits. In their defence this was a rare occurrence, and did not detract much from the play.

Writing reviews after a play has finished its run does contradict one of the main reasons for a review, to inform the viewing public, but laziness makes a mockery of even the best of intentions.  To summarise the Circa production it was competent and more than satisfactory, George Henare is a delight to see in action.  In addition, Arthur Miller's underlying material is so solid that if you are wondering whether to see the play at a different location then Juan says do it! Just remember, if it was good enough for Marilyn, it is good enough for you bums.

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