PlayMakers Rep's Current Production
of Arthur Miller's 1949 Masterpiece,
Death of a Salesman, Is Masterful

Julia Gibson and Jeffrey Blair Cornell star as Linda and Willy Loman (photo by HuthPhoto)

PlayMakers Repertory Company has another hit with the current production of Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman. My college literature class had taught that Death of a Salesman was a revolutionary form of tragedy, because its tragic protagonist is a "common man" (rather than the high-ranking noble of earlier tragedy) and that Willy Loman's surname -- Loman or "low man" -- poignantly emphasizes this change.

And English Department studies of such tragedies as Macbeth, Hamlet, Julius Caesar, and King Lear had postulated various causes of the "tragic fall":

1. A "tragic flaw" in the protagonist's character (such as Macbeth's ambition).
2. A divided sense of loyalties between two conflicting ideologies (case in point: the conflict between Hamlet's Christian conviction that killing is wrong and the pagan tradition that revenge is a duty).
3. A single mistake made by the hero, such as Brutus' decision to join the conspiracy to assassinate Julius Caesar, or Lear's decision to divide his kingdom and banish Cordelia).

These studies also emphasized that the fall of the tragic hero would have far-reaching and devastating consequences.

Arthur Miller's play illustrates, quite clearly, all of these points; and PlayMakers Rep's current production, directed by Michael Wilson, fully manifests every one of them while swiftly and smoothly laying out this story.

Death of a Salesman stars Allen Tedder (left) as Biff Loman and Matthew Donahue as Happy Loman (photo by HuthPhoto)

The Play:

When the curtain rises, it's 1949 Brooklyn; and we are in the home of the Loman family. Willy Loman is a 63-year-old traveling salesman whose 34-year career with the same company has been on the decline. He is about to crash-and-burn.

Willy deals with his financial and spiritual defeats by creating a fictional world in which he has been (and, to a degree, still is) monumentally successful and immensely popular (to the point of being famous).

His delusions include visions of, and aspirations for, his sons' success that matches that of his own imaginary past. His "memories" lead to mental "reenactments" that feature one-sided conversations with people from his past; and because most of our "information" about his (and his family's) past is filtered through Willy's delusional musings, every "fact" is suspect.

Willy's wife Linda is worried about him, and tries to be optimistic and supportive. Furthermore, she has come across evidence that Willy intends to commit suicide. Biff, their 34-year-old son has returned from "out west," where he claims to have been working as a ranchhand. Their younger son, Harold (a.k.a. "Happy") lives nearby and also spends the night at his parents' house.

The play offers a serious indictment of the fiction that we refer to as "The American Dream" and implicates the patriarchal nature of Western society.

Death of a Salesman stars Jeffrey Blair Cornell (left) as Willy Loman and Reez Bailey as Howard Wagner (photo by HuthPhoto)

The Acting:

Jeffrey Blair Cornell's portrayal of Willy is so eerily real that it borders on being scary. As Willy's demeanor shifts from hopeful to pompous, to domineering, to delusional, and so forth, Cornell's postures, expressions, and tones of voice all undergo various degrees of change. No matter how hopeless, pointless, and irrational his thoughts, words, and actions might be, Cornell's Willy manages to keep us "onboard" and trying to be hopeful for him. Additionally, Cornell navigates Willy's shifts from the present to the Surreal past with aplomb.

In Allen Tedder's performance, we see both the confused, defeated, and down-and-out Biff Loman of the present and the high-school-age Biff, whose self-confidence borders on arrogance. As amazing as we find Tedder's range of portrayals of his character, the quick costume changes and surprising relocations are equally impressive. Biff, incidentally, is torn between staying in New York to pursue the dreams that his father has foisted on him and returning to a life that he finds more pleasant. Tedder makes these internal conflicts quite telling.

Happy Loman, with his put-on sense of achievement and synthetic optimism, is well-played by Matthew Donahue. Happy wants to impress everyone and is constantly ready to bend the truth while bragging about false, empty, and often misguided achievements. In Donahue's hands, there is never any question about Happy's self-absorption, or of his total lack of conscience and self-awareness. Like Tedder, Donahue creates two iterations of his character -- the real-and-now and the back-then-and-surreal.

The most sympathetic character in the script is Linda Loman, and Julia Gibson brings every note of this complex character to life. Worrying about Willy and dreading the probable direness of his future are clearly behind every caring gesture and all of her support for her husband as she deals with day-to-day life. And Gibson's appearances in the past are quite obviously 15 or so years younger (and it's not just due to the changes of costumes and wigs).

The entire supporting cast is strong, but special shoutouts are in order for Samuel Ray Gates as Charley and Nate John Mark as Bernard. Gates and Mark have both mastered the double-character effect of playing their character in the reality of the present and in the surreal-ity of Willy's memories of the past.

And Paul Carlin simply commands the stage when he enters as Ben.

The Tech:

With the nearly all-black set, scenic designer Jan Chambers has fittingly created a dark, chaotic world that seems to mirror the shambles in Willy's mind. There are, however, brighter "pockets" from which Linda emerges. The ease with which different areas convert to other locales is also impressive.

Lighting designer Carolina Ortiz Herrera creates the transitions from the present into the not-so-dark past that Willy imagines as a few ethereal "tracks" on which Ben enters and interacts with Willy.

Projections designer Tao Wang enhances these metamorphoses, as does sound designer and composer John Gromada. Gromada's original music fits wonderfully.

David C. Woolard's costume designs are spot-on. The contrast between Ben's all-white suit and Willy's dark suit is especially striking.

Stage managers Sarah Smiley and Aspen Blake Jackson are also to be commended.

The show stars (from left) Jim Bray as Stanley, Elizabeth Dye as Miss Forsythe, and Matthew Donahue as Happy Loman (photo by HuthPhoto)

Nice Touches:

• Opening the action by simulating the arrival of a car in the garage.
• The use of projections for a variety of reasons.
• The music and lighting that accompany Willy's memories and musings.
• The tree in the upstage-left periphery -- both its condition and the effect of the lighting.
• Biff's vintage football equipment.

Memorable Lines:

• "Once in my life I would like to own something outright before it's broken!"
• "You sneeze in here, and in my house hats blow off."
• "Never fight fair with a stranger, boy. You'll never get out of the jungle that way."
• "Everybody likes a kidder, but nobody lends him money."
• "Pull yourself together, kid."
• "... [A]nd if a man is building something he must be on the right track, mustn't he?"
• "What -- what's the secret?"
• "The only thing you got in this world is what you can sell. And the funny thing is that you're a salesman, and you don't know that."

Death of a Salesman stars Allen Tedder as Biff Loman and Nate John Mark as Mark (photo by HuthPhoto)

The Bottom Line:

PlayMakers Repertory Company's production of Death of a Salesman offers an excellent opportunity for anyone to experience Arthur Miller's masterpiece. If you've never seen or read it, you will not find a better production for your first or your only of Death of a Salesman.

And even if you have been a witness to the salesman's death multiple times, this show will give you plenty to "chew on."

Final Note:

Do not be daunted or intimidated by the three-hour runtime. There is a 15-minute intermission, and both acts move so swiftly and smoothly that you will be surprised when each comes to an end.

Death of a Salesman stars Samuel Ray Gates (left) as Charly and Jeffrey Blair Cornell as Willy Loman (photo by HuthPhoto)

Arthur Miller's DEATH OF A SALESMAN (In Person at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday-Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 8, 9, and 12-16), directed by Michael Wilson and starring (in alphabetical order) Reez Bailey as Howard Wagner, Jim Bray as Stanley, Paul Carlin as Uncle Ben, Jeffrey Blair Cornell as Willy Loman, Matthew Donahue as Happy Loman, Elizabeth Dye as Miss Forsythe, Samuel Ray Gates as Charly, Julia Gibson as Linda Loman, Susannah Hough as The Woman, Jadah Johnson as Jenny, Nate John Mark as Bernard, Allen Tedder as Biff Loman, and Mengwe Wapimewah as Letta (PlayMakers Repertory Company in the Paul Green Theatre in UNC-Chapel Hill's Joan H. Gillings Center for Dramatic Art). TRAILER: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nfGV4UfhY2g. FEATURETTE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GuJ3VdDFCac&t=4s. PRESENTER: https://playmakersrep.org/, https://www.facebook.com/playmakersrep, https://www.instagram.com/playmakersrep/, https://twitter.com/playmakersrep https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlayMakers_Repertory_Company, and https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCO7crv41zzCYf9HxRDUEVdw. 2024-25 SEASON: https://playmakersrep.org/season/2024-2025/. PRC BLOG: https://playmakersrep.org/about-us/our-blog/. VENUE: https://playmakersrep.org/about-us/paul-green-theatre/ and https://museum.unc.edu/exhibits/show/names/paul-green-theatre. DIRECTIONS/PARKING: https://playmakersrep.org/visitor-info/directions-and-parking/. DEATH OF A SALESMAN (1949 Pulitzer Prize for Drama-winning Broadway play): https://www.dramatists.com/cgi-bin/db/single.asp?key=1780, https://www.arthurmiller.org/works/, https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-show/death-of-a-salesman-2999, and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_a_Salesman. THE SCRIPT (excerpts): https://books.google.com/. STUDY GUIDE (Utah Shakespeare Festival): https://www.bard.org/study-guides/death-of-a-salesman-study-guide/. ARTHUR MILLER (New York City-born playwright and screenwriter, nee Arthur Asher Miller, 1915-2005): https://www.arthurmiller.org/, https://arthurmillersociety.net/, https://arthurmillerfoundation.org/, https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/arthur-miller-4316, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0007186/, and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Miller. NOTE 1: The 2 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 9th, show will be an open-captioned performance, with a "universal-access" live-caption unit, communicating dialog, stage directions, and sound effects. NOTE 2: There will be a post-show discussion after the 2 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 9th, performance. NOTE 3: Arts Access, Inc. of Raleigh will audio-describe and American-sign-language interpret the show's 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 12th, performance. TICKETS: $20 and up, plus taxes and fees. Click here to buy tickets. INFORMATION: 919-962-7529 or prcboxoffice@unc.edu. PLEASE DONATE TO: PlayMakers Repertory Company. Jaye Bullock's Triangle Review Review Permalink. Susie Potter's Triangle Arts Review Review.

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