Flip side of the American dream

First appeared: Evening Star, Ipswich, February 28, 2007

Death of a Salesman, by Arthur Miller
Colchester Mercury Theatre until March 10; New Wolsey Theatre Ipswich , March 13-17

WILLY LOMAN – pathetic, comical, washed-up, failure Willy – is one of the great central characters of 20th -century theatre. It was perhaps Arthur Miller's supreme achievement to make a salesman, and a failed one at that, the Everyman of his age.

When we laugh at Loman or cringe at him – or with him – we laugh or cringe at ourselves. He is the little man whose big dreams have come to nothing. He is the flip side – for most, the reality – of the American Dream: the man struggling to meet his insurance premiums and the payments on the fridge, while making a hash of raising his sons.

He could almost be a stock comedy figure, yet ultimately we have to see him as tragic.

Though undeniably a great play, Salesman is also flawed by moments when Miller's authorial voice comes through too strongly, asserting that Loman is a good man and not to be blamed.

The suggestion is that it is the cruel realities of capitalism, the world of selling and business, that have messed up Willy and his family.

Yet Loman is a true tragic figure in that his own character failings bring him down. He is a fantasist, unable to listen to anyone, especially his own family.

In classic end-of-life manner, he is constantly surrounded by the ghosts of his past, who intrude confusingly into the surroundings of his present. He has forever sought, and failed to find, the mythical secret of success.

It's powerful, iconic stuff, with much that will be familiar to most of us. But it's also now something of a period piece, rooted in the mid-20th century American city, which the set, costumes and music of this production conjure up superbly.

It's a generally excellent production, as one expects of the Mercury Theatre Company.

Kate Layden, as Willy's long-suffering wife, and Marshall Griffin as his troubled son Biff are particularly good. Paul McCleary and Stephen Cavanagh as friends and neighbours Charley and Bernard provide very solid, credible support. Nicholas Lumley is suitably puckish as the remembered, perhaps mythical, Uncle Ben.

Sadly, the failing is in Roger Delves-Broughton, who seems miscast as Willy.

He is a fine actor, and he works his socks off in this huge part. But his portrayal, finely observed as it is on the surface, lacks depth. He is neither funny enough nor tragic enough.

One sees why he exasperates his family, especially Biff, but not why they should love him. You see that he is lost, but do not feel where he has come from.

Any production of Death of a Salesman will stand or fall by the portrayal of Willy Loman. This one stands up – but not quite as tall as it might.