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Life & Arts

UH theatre explores ‘Death' of a dream

Production of Arthur Miller's classic work ‘Death of a Salesman' succeeds with solid acting performances

by MONICA GRANGER 
The Daily Cougar 

Death of a Salesman remains American playwright Arthur Miller's hallmark work. The 1949 Tony and Pulitzer Prize-winning play and multi-award winning movie and television versions have inspired countless productions in theaters and schools across the country, and the UH School of Theater's rendition is worth a look, too. 

Death tells the story of an elderly traveling salesman named Willy Loman, played by Broadway actor J.T. Waite, whose personal, professional and psychological life begin to unravel around him despite lingering hopes and delusions. 
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The question of why has almost as many answers as there have been productions of the play, ranging from those based on socio-economic, cultural or political considerations to more complex combinations of these and other factors.

Professionally, Willy professes he is an experienced and desirable salesman, but the audience never sees tangible evidence of this claim and is shown precisely the opposite as Harold Wagner (Shelley Wilson), the son of Willy's former boss, fires Willy.

Willy considers public opinion more important than private worth in forming his opinion of a person. This lack of attention to tangible displays of personal character inures Willy against the failures of his eldest son, Biff, played in nuanced detail by Matthew Archambault. 

Psychologically, Willy drifts in and out of flashbacks to better times, when Biff was a high school football star and both sons were "well-liked" in the neighborhood, as opposed to Willy's neighbor Charlie (Rutherford Cravens), who is "liked, but not well-liked." The audience is unsure whether intense emotions or the early onset of dementia cause the flashbacks, but the effect is the same: Willy's lack of attachment to reality is debilitating.

Archambault's attention to detail shines during the flashback scenes as he shows the audience how Willy thinks of his son despite the facts and what duplicitous act of Willy's undermined his son's future success. 

Willy's younger son, Harold, or Happy Loman, played by Caleb George, is materially successful yet morally destitute as he womanizes and compulsively lies his way to achievement. George's performance, though, was too timid to fully convey Happy's lackadaisical, playboy lifestyle.

Anne Quackenbush plays the ever-dutiful Linda Loman, who knows of her husband's mistruths, yet stands by him to Clinton-esque degrees. Quackenbush's performance lacks the tenderness one would expect from such a relationship, but the effect is not stifling to the overall message of the play, and she presents a thoughtful creation of a strong-willed yet weak woman.

Most surprisingly, it was The Woman, a character with few lines, who really pulled the audience fully into Death near its end. Kim Tobin's portrayal of Willy's mistress sparkled with realism, and the levity was crucial to the emotional climax quickly following the scene. 

Moores School of Music assistant professor of composition Marcus Karl Maroney drives the play's themes home with his original score for the production, played live on stage by flutist Melanie Lançon, bassoonist Michael J. Muna, double bassist Scott Dixon and harpist Sadie Turner.

Miller's seminal work demands talented acting to deal with multi-faceted thematic complexities, and the UH cast solidifies brilliantly under the directorship of School of Theatre director Sidney Berger. 

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