"Death of a Salesman"

I read with interest two recent reviews of the Broadway (NYC) opening of Arthur Miller’s 1954 play Death of a Salesman. The revival of this play is being produced on Broadway by the legendary Mike Nichols. You remember him for the movie The Graduate among others. His new "Salesman" has an all-star cast including Phillip Seymour Hoffman, John Glover and Arthur Garfield. Both reviewers (Time and New York magazines) give the play (now in previews) high marks.

The main thrust of their reviews centered on how oddly relevant the play has become, again, in these crazy times. The fifties were a period of unprecedented growth and optimism in the United States and it was at this time that Miller presented a play about despair that questioned the American Dream. His play seemed like an relic of the hopeless thirties not indicative of the happy fifties. Still and all human tragedy is never old.

Willy Loman, the main character, sells women’s stockings in New England. He claims to be “big” in Providence; he says he “slaughtered em in Boston”. The truth is he is totally out of his element. He is not a salesman despite all his efforts to look and act like a salesman. In his best year he was average and he doesn’t even like selling stockings. Often he tells people how much he would like to work using his hands. He would have been a good carpenter, but America is about selling. "Everybody sells y’ know"! Resumes, interviews, college admission essays, speed-dating, internships and more are all examples of people selling. We sell ourselves every day we wake up. So of course to a man like Willy who is all-in on the American Dream of working hard, owning a home, having 2.5 normal kids with a loving wife and with a good retirement at the end, selling would be what he would think shows the successful man of action. Willy's greatest hope is to die a loved, admired, respected man with hundreds at his funeral. "Be liked and you'll never want he tells his boys". He wants to die the death of a salesman.

What happens when the perfect dream becomes a nightmare and you end up worth more dead than alive? Such is the stuff this play is made of. Willy believes every slogan and sales pitch that comes his way. So do millions of Americans. Why do you think the color of the tie matters in a presidential debate? Why do candidates parade their wives and kids out onto the platform? Slogans, promises, jingles, and political ads are all just a part of the sales pitch. You're not selling the bacon, you're selling the sizzle.

Sad to say Willy couldn’t sell mustard to a hot dog except for 2 people, his two sons. Biff and Happy buy every word their father tells them about how he sold thousands and is the biggest man in New England. They think he walks on water and when they realize he’s an empty bag of hot air, so pathetic that his son, Happy, pretends to not know him at one point, well the tragedy that is the Loman Family just deepens.

I have a personal connection to this play. In 1980 I directed a high school production of Death of a Salesman. I had been searching around trying to come up with a play that would challenge students to think and I asked my department members if they had any ideas. One obnoxious teacher said, “The only thing kids will come see are comedies and musicals, so whatever you do don’t do “Salesman”. She didn’t know me well or she wouldn’t have said that because that is exactly the play I decided to do. I had my hands full, the main character, Willy, is 58 years old, his wife nearly as old and his boys both older and in flashback scenes younger. Not to mention the dialogue is 1950’s, the clothes etc.

Look, older actors can play younger because they remember being younger. Younger actors struggle to play older because they have no first-hand knowledge of being old. I cast Ron Hoffman, a senior, as Willy. I took him to retirement places to hang out with older people to get a feel for why they walk the way they do, are deliberate with their movements etc. Heck just showing the fatigue of life, disappointments, and frustrations. He really got it and with the help of makeup and the right clothes, when he walked on that stage with heavy suitcases he looked like a beaten down 58 year old Willy Loman. I cast the other parts carefully as well and spent long hours talking with them about why their characters are the way they are. Why is the youngest son such a shit? Why is the oldest son so resentful of his father and so forth? It’s less about what your character says and more about how it’s said.

Less is always more in acting, you have to be Willy not be a kid playing Willy. I had to help Ron become an angry, self-loathing guilt riddled man of 58 every night. He did such a good job. With the exception of his young voice, he was Willy Loman. Linda, Willy’s wife, is an especially tricky role because the actor that plays this part has to portray three things equally: that she loves Willy and will defend him at all costs but she also aids in his self-destruction as a classic enabler. Then she is the person that tries to smooth everything over and never face any truths. She is so complicated that half the audience typically sympathizes with her and half the audience hates her and blames her for much of the trouble.

Students came to the play which ran for 5 nights over 2 weekends. We didn’t get the huge turnout that musicals and comedies get but the students that did come to see it had favorable things to say. It got good reviews. I was as proud of that play as any I directed. I have always believed we underestimate smart kids. There are teens that want to know what life is about, the good, bad and ugly. They aren't afraid.

One of my students went to see the play and the next day in class I asked him what he thought about the play. What he said reaffirmed for me that he understood the play and that it was worth doing. He said, “Well, I know I don’t want to end up like any of those people in the Loman family”. Perfect. If you ever get the chance to see this play, on Broadway or at the local high school I encourage you to do so. There is also an excellent version on DVD with Dustin Hoffman that you can rent or stream.