|
There’s
a reason Arthur Miller’s “Death of a Salesman” is considered one of the
greatest American plays ever written: it’s because it’s one of the greatest American
plays ever written. The sixty-odd years since the play’s premiere in 1949 have
not rendered “Death of a Salesman” any less relevant or relatable; if anything,
perhaps the play hits even closer to home today in these difficult economic
times than it has in the past.
Willy Loman is “a man with all the
wrong dreams.” In particular, he is a devout believer in the American
Dream—that if you believe in yourself and persevere,  | (Left to right.) Carlos Vera as Happy and
Cameron Parker as Biff. |
you can make it big in America
whatever your beginnings. Looking at Willy through our disillusioned,
post-Occupy L A lens, we are able to recognize in this character an even more
poignantly ridiculous man than perhaps theatergoers before us saw. When we meet
Willy, he is an aging salesman exhibiting the first signs of dementia. Willy is
obsessed with the trivial successes of the past: his popularity among his
customers, and his son’s brief career as a high school football player. The
peripatetic salesman has been extolling the virtues of his company’s product
for more than thirty years, but instead of a promotion or raise for his dedication,
Willy is stripped of his base salary, and is reduced to trying to support his
family on commissions alone—commissions which were plentiful in his youth when
he was popular and well-liked by his customers, but which are non-existent now
in his old age. The loyal customers of yesteryear have all retired or passed
away, and the young buyers Willy visits now no longer know or have time for
him. Realizing in his heart that he himself has failed to achieve the greatness
he had envisioned in his youth, Willy pins all his hopes on his son, Biff.
With a show like this, I wouldn’t put
it past anyone to start reaching for the Kleenex five minutes after the curtain
rises. The scene that did me in, however, was the one in which the desperate
Willy finally summons enough courage to ask his boss for an end to his 36 years
of selling on the road, and that he be given a desk job at company headquarters
instead. Actor Jose A. Garcia gives a wonderfully truthful performance as Willy,
and during this scene especially, the demarcation between “performer” and
“character” disappears so completely we feel as if we are actually watching
Willy Loman groveling pathetically to his jerk of a boss. Willy had been
working for the company when the jerk’s father was running things, and has
known the son since the latter was a baby. After all those years of dedication
and hard work, Willy now has to kiss up to this callous young man. Garcia’s futile
obsequiousness is so real it embarrasses us, and one has to suppress an urge to
shout at the stage, “For God’s sakes, man, have some dignity!”
At 34, Biff, the elder of Willy’s two
sons and the focus of all Willy’s hopes and aspirations, has achieved none of
the successes Willy had mapped out for him. Biff is unemployed and has moved
back into his parents’ house, where he does little besides telling his younger
brother what a brilliant farmer he would’ve made, and generally being what some
would bluntly refer to as a Lazy Bum. As Biff, Cameron Parker displays an
emotional depth far in advance of the actor’s tender age. Parker’s Biff is so
weary under the oppressive weight of his father’s demands upon him that he
seems barely able to muster up the energy to speak. The wide disparity between
Willy’s idea of Biff, and who Biff really is, constitutes the main conflict of
this play. This conflict culminates in a profoundly moving scene between Willy
and Biff, in which Biff tries to get his father to accept him for the ordinary
man he is.
The Mosaic Lizard Theater is a new and
charming venue. However, the small stage does offer challenges to a play like
this, with numerous scenes set in numerous different locations, and made for
some very awkward scene transitions. Still, a good production of a great play
like “Death of a Salesman” is not a thing to be missed.
Arthur Miller’s
Death of a Salesman
Opens
July 13th
Performances:
Fridays & Saturdays @ 8 pm
Sundays
@ 2 pm
The
Mosaic Lizard Theater
General
Admission: $15 / Students & Seniors: $12
112 W Main Street
Alhambra, CA 91801
Reservations:
(626) 457-5293
www.lizardtheater.com
|