Short-Changed 'Salesman'

Death of Salesman

Directed by Eric C. Engel

NORA Theater at the Union

February 4 and 5 at 8:00 p.m.

February 5 at 2:00 p.m.

Open Rehearsal on February 3

When I first read Death of a Salesman in 10th grade, it was something very new and fresh for me. Having only read dramas such as Shakespeare's Hamlet and MacBeth, I thought plays were only about Large Male Figures. In contrast, Death of a Salesman tells the story of a Small Male Figure.

The story revolves around Willy Loman, an aging travelling salesman whose pipe dreams haven't come true. His dream was to live the lore of the salesman on the road, known and loved wherever he travelled. Instead, he has lived the reality of a mediocre selling career with constant indebtedness while trying to conceal it all from his family with fantastical salesman's pitches. Realizing the imminence of his own failure, Willy has tried to vicariously live his dream through his oldest son, Biff, The audience enters the story when Biff, in his thirties, has failed to live up to his father's hopes. Confronted with Biff's refusal, Willy is forced, by the end of the play, out of his world of illusions. In the end, all the slick talk in the world can no longer suffice and he is finally reduced to admitting, "I am Nothing!..I am just what I am!" He takes his car to his final sale, killing himself to pay off the debt his life has incurred. The remainder of the play is a "requiem," a eulogy for Willy which demands that "attention must be paid." In the "Theater of Guilt," as critic Robert Brustein has dubbed it, the audience must empathize with Willy, the "everyman."

Eric C. Engel, as director of the Nora Theatre Company's production, makes his strongest artistic decision in the scenic design. Paying close attention to the "everyman" theme, Engel places the audience in a three-quarter round seating area, The kitchen is in the center of the stage space, and the two bedrooms, for Willy and his wife Linda and for the boys, are tucked into corners to the audience. This places the audience inside Willy's home instead of a position outside from which they would detachedly 'watch' the events in the household. Here the audience is made a part of the experience, so the production design serves the dual purpose of telling Willy's story while making "everyman" in the audience feel as if his or her story is also worth telling.

Engel does a magnificent job directing the crucial moments of Willy's confrontation with truth. Engel perfectly understands the rhythm of the play's dramatic moments and skillfully draws emotions from the audience. The play is punctuated by emotional moments, such as the scene in which Biff exposes Willy's suicidal tendencies. He hits the rubber pipe on the table which Willy has been planning to use to kill himself. Build, BUILD, BUILD! and then SLAM! the rubber tubing is whipped out, banged on the table and a huge silence descends, a moment Engel creates so that the audience's sympathy also has time to build.

Richard Mawe, as Willy, and Ted Reinstein, as Biff, are excellent at leading the cast in what is essentially a father-son play. Mawe has a wonderfully subtle acting style, never overdone, but ready to pounce on every heightened emotion. He moves very naturally between reality and the dream sequences, assisted only by a warm light change and electronic music (which, at times, sounds suspiciously like PBS Wildlife Special accompaniment). Reinstein, funny and charismatic, is also more than prepared for moments such as the "pipe" scene. Other times, he expresses hisdisgust for the city environment in such a waythat the audience feels its own surroundings alltoo acutely.

Deena Mazer plays Linda Loman sweetly andendearingly. The audience is make to love her andfinds it wrenching to see her sitting on stage infearful silence during Willy's fantasticalcavortings.

Two student actors also make appearances insmall roles. Serena Kortepeter '96 plays thesecretary of Willy's neighbor Bernard and one ofthe women that Biff and Happy pick up in arestaurant. Ross Benjamin '96 plays the friendlywaiter in that same restaurant scene. Both actorsseem to be fully at ease with the professionalcast.

The weakness of the play and, perhaps, theproduction can be seen in Linda Loman's silencesin the moments in which she is heartlessly told byher husband to "Stop interrupting!" "Death of aSalesman" was important for certain reasons whenit was written in 1945. But the passage of timehas limited its relevance, or perhaps it would bemore appropriate to say that the play isinadequately prepared for passage through time. Itno longer appeals, if it ever did, to a diverseaudience.

For one thing, Miller's representation of womenis debasing and limiting. His women run a smallgamut between the 'babes' that Happy effortlesslywoos in the restaurant scene, to Linda, a wifewhose identity is completely sacrificed to herhusband's doddering dreams. She is not allowed anydreams of her own. This one-dimensional view ofwoman loses the sympathy of the female audiencemembers.

The "Everyman" story of a straight, white,white-collar, urban man doesn't appeal to a largeenough audience and a diverse enough sensibilityfor the '90s. In their program, the Nora assertsthat '...have sought out plays that jostle ourhearts and minds and have attempted to producethem in ways that reveal our common humanity." Butthe "common humanity" is not adequatedlyrepresented in the "Everyman" characterized byWilly Loman. At most, then, this well-doneproduction of a bland play can only remind us,true to its intention, that the theatrical spacesometimes is meant for bland characters and blandstories. Despite the well-intentioned attempts ofthe theatrical setting to include the entireaudience in the story, the script only allows forlimited inclusion