A recent opening at the Overture Center might lead you to believe you are back in your high school English class. However, it is doubtful your high school English classes took place in the mind of a neurotic man who just wants to be well-liked.""
The Madison Repertory Theatre opened its season on Friday, with the staging of Arthur Miller's American Classic ""Death of A Salesman."" In this production the Rep shows that an English class is no substitute for good, live drama.
The play is set mainly inside the mind of a man - a 1950s traveling salesman who lives in Brooklyn but sells textiles up and down New England. His name is Willy Loman, he is 60 years old, admittedly walrus-like in appearance, and going through a series of neurotic episodes. He has been crashing his car as of late, and has been unable to make enough sales to support himself.
The majority of the play takes place in his mind going through a series of tortured flashbacks, and distorted realities. He is played with great force and charisma by Roderick Peeples, who was seen last spring in another Arthur Miller play, ""The Price.""
The play centers on Willy's death, and it is Linda's job to make sure: ""Attention must finally be paid to such a man. He's not to be allowed to fall into his grave like an old dog."" If Willy's mind controls the narrative, then it is his wife Linda who controls our emotions.
Luckily, Linda is played by Patricia Boyette, who in this production is acting at another level than most of other members of the cast. The only other actor, who can meet her performance, is DJ Howard. He plays Willy's neighbor and only friend Charley, and does it with an enormously powerful blend of keen wit and gravitas.
The play's title indicates Willy is going to die, and he spends most of the play trying to come to grips with the events of his life, and his strained relationship with his two sons. His sons are Biff and Harold ""Happy"" Loman, played competently well, by Braden Moran and David Wilson-Brown. Both characters act as instruments in Miller's tool box. Biff, with all of his failed potential, becomes a catalyst for Willy's thoughts and delusions. Happy helps us to better understand Biff, but one of his major elements is providing bits of humor through his parents' neglect:
Happy: I'm getting married, Pop.
Linda: (wearily) Go to sleep dear.
The stage's floor has innate tiling, and long towers of skyscrapers dotting the background give the entire production a very dark feeling - like a noir crime novel or the animation of ""Batman the Animated Series."" This is not a feel good, happy-go-lucky play, and the scenery reflects that.
The play ends with a requiem for Willy, as he has died the ""Death of A Salesman."" In an English class you might have learned how Miller was trying to critique the American Dream with all its materialism and superficiality. While the traveling salesman is all but a relic, Willy's neuroses might now be solved by Prozac.
The play is so richly put together that there are always new things to take from this work. Artistic director Richard Corley has a feel for Arthur Miller. He did an amiable job last spring with his production of Miller's ""The Price,"" but he does much better job with this production. It was as if the ""The Price"" was spring training, and ""Death of A Salesman"" was the regular season. Perhaps, we will see Miller's ""All My Sons"" in the playoffs. We can only hope.
