Death of a Salesman

(Belvoir Street Theatre)

(Belvoir Street Theatre @ Theatre Royal)

Arthur Miller's 'Death of a Salesman' is four months older than I; that is 63 years old. We both are older now than the play's principal character, Willy Loman, a travelling salesman unfilled late in his life and pinning his hopes on his older son Biff, a college football star. It is a classic play of lost dreams and generational clashes.

The Belvoir Street production was a sold out success prompting this unplanned transfer to the Theatre Royal. The production design created with the intimate Belvoir Street performance space in mind has been retained for the larger Theatre Royal environment.

The actors use their Australian accents whilst preforming this very American work. The same strategy was employed by the Sydney Theatre Company in its recent production of 'Sex with Strangers'. In the latter case, that didn't seem to be a problem after the first ten minutes or so but in this case I sense some of the rhythm of the play's language is lost. There are other oddities. The sole item on stage is a contemporary looking car with right hand drive (in the Australian style) which sits at odds with the American setting.

Why this production has been so successful is probably the fine performances of the cast, especially Colin Friels as Willy and Patrick Brammall as Biff, in particular in the second act which made this a memorable visit to the theatre.

★★★★