Review: Death of a Salesman at Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford
Antony Sher delivers a performance that will be remembered for years in this RSC production of Arthur Miller's bleak tale of a dysfunctional New York family swimming in the wreckage of the American Dream.
The play, described as the greatest American tragedy ever written, is set in 1949 yet resonates powerfully with today's concerns about low wages, insecure pensions and the taboo of mental decay. Every middle-aged father wondering why his perfect son is stuck in A dead-end job will share the anguish of Willy Loman.
Everything's going wrong for Loman. At 63, his mind is failing, his sales are falling. He asks for a lower-grade job and gets sacked. He transfers all his hopes to his sons, building them up in his mind as superhuman personalities. Yet one is a womanising waster and the other a compulsive petty thief. Nothing the three men say to each other is true and even the shock of discovering Willy may be planning suicide does not halt the lies and myth-making.
Gregory Doran directs a fine team against a stark, flexible set. Sher throws everything into his breathless, raging, word-perfect performance as Loman, earning our sympathy one moment and our disgust the next. Harriet Walter is excellent as Linda, his docile wife who knows he is deeply flawed but loves him anyway.
Alex Hassell and Sam Marks as the troubled sons Biff and Happy are the perfect foils to their self-deluding father. Great play, great director, great cast.
Death of a Salesman is at Stratford until May 2.
By Peter Rhodes
