1990

Death of a Salesman

by Arthur Miller

Gilles Theatre Company

Warren Neale Theatre

Gilles Plains College of TAFE

August, 1990.

From the moment it appeared in 1949 Death of a Salesman was hailed as a modern classic. Twenty years ago it seemed like a monument to a bygone cult of mammon. Now, forty-one years on, it has much to say again about contemporary confusions between the business of life and the life of business. New Age marketspeak may have replaced Dale Carnegie’s How to Win Friends and Influence People but there are still plenty of Willy (and Wilhemina) Lomans ready to sell themselves, and others, a dud bill of goods.

In his first collaboration with Ted Schwerdt’s Gilles Theatre Company, veteran director Bruno Knez has produced a convincing Salesman which is worth seeing even if it is, at times  over-reverential of Miller’s stage directions. Using honky-tonk piano and bordello lighting for Willy’s lapse with the scarlet woman may have been the playwright’s wish but literally fulfilled it is a cliche. Vally Knez’s set pays its respects to Jo Mielziner’s stylised original and even has a fat fridge and formica to approximate the period. So why, then, spoil the effect with moulded plastic chairs ? Of course the company has limited resources but there is no point setting  up illusions only to torpedo them.

While performances overall are uneven, the ones that matter work well. Yvonne Schwerdt is effective as the long-suffering Linda, in the crucial moments of conflict Brian Mulqueeny makes a good fist of Biff and while technically limited, Terry Clayton is useful  as the good neighbour Charley. Ian Boyce gives an intelligent performance as Willy Loman. His accent is credible and  he succeeds in raising  the character above the merely pathetic. Tetchy, frail and guilt-ridden his salesman lives on his nerves and pays a high price for his mistaken life.

After Loman’s last scene with Biff, Miller’s play takes too long (and too many words) to conclude and this is exacerbated by the pace of the final scenes in this production. Also, we could have done without the sound effects when Willy hits the wall and the portentous music at the graveside in the final scene- even if something of the kind is suggested in the text. In both cases less would not only be more, it would be much better.

Murray Bramwell

“Salesman delivers the goods” The Advertiser, August 11, 1990, p.17.