Death of a Salesman

'Willy Loman never made a lot of money. His name was never in the paper. He's not the finest character that ever lived. But he's a human being, and a terrible thing is happening to him. So attention must be paid.' Read more …

34 years ago travelling salesman Willy Loman climbed into his car to chase the American dream: running on hope and 'riding on a smile and a shoeshine' into the land of opportunity.

This is the journey of his life, told in one day. Willy, now 63, returns home for the last time to his family, with his memories, his daydreams and his terrible fear that somewhere along the road he might have taken a wrong turn.

Written by the legendary Arthur Miller (The Crucible, All My Sons, A View from the Bridge) Death of a Salesman is arguably his greatest work. Described as the first great American tragedy, Death of a Salesman helped Miller gain the reputation of being a man who understood the deep essence of the United States. Addressing the painful conflicts within one family, the play also considers the cost of blind faith in the American Dream. It won the Pulitzer Prize in 1949 and still punches with full force 66 years after its premiere.

The critical consensus

The play still has tremendous power, and the production captures well the innovation of Miller's dreamlike structure and his keen understanding of family dynamics.

(*) (*) Mark Fisher, The Guardian, 15/02/2011

Ron Emslie gives a powerful and convincing performance in the lead role of Willy Loman, his booming voice filling the auditorium as we see a man coming to the end of the road, both physically and metaphorically.

Jennifer Cosgrove, The Courier, 15/02/2011

The result is both a telling insight into the cruelties of a boom-and-bust society where the big-talking pitch is the norm, as well as a compelling tragedy concerning the loneliness of the long-distance little guy and the far-reaching consequences of his on-the-road indiscretions.

(*) Neil Cooper, The Herald, 17/02/2011

Yet what they are shouting about, in Death Of A Salesman, is the success or failure, in human terms, of the mercantile dream on which the whole economy of the planet is now founded; and a production that fails to make that clear is in some kind of trouble, for all the visual eloquence of Ken Harrison's design, and all the obvious good intentions of an unfailingly thoughtful show.

(*) (*) Joyce McMillan, The Scotsman, 18/02/2011

While it may not have the Rolls-Royce smoothness of the other recent big Arthur Miller production in Scotland, A View from the Bridge at Edinburgh’s Royal Lyceum, it has other fine and original touches.

Robert Dawson Scott, STV, 18/02/2011