The Broadway theatre played the American Playwright Death Of A Salesman. A tragedy play with the American Dream as the dominant theme. The play written by Arthur Miller was new to me. I had heard of Arthur Miller before but I had never read or seen one of his plays before. This production was first staged in Morosco Theatre on February 10, 1949 closing on November 18, 1950 after 742 performances. Even though the play is old, and was first performed in 1949. I thought it was entertaining and I understood the story. The play embraces the American Dream by depicting characters with real life circumstances and feelings people can relate to. With atmospheric lighting, interesting props, attractive performers and skillful acting there is no way the play could have not been memorable. The costume styles are also important to Willy’s life and the idea of the play.
Most of the costume styles used were vintage like from the 1940’s. In Scene 1 Willy wears a fedora and high waisted pants to give off the look of a successful salesman. In another Scene he wears a gray colored suit to ask his boss for a new position in New York . Linda Loman dresses as a housewife throughout the play. I found this fitting to the type of play it is. During day Scenes were Willy was having flashbacks and the boys were in the backyard. She would wear a floral long dress with an apron on it, showing her as the homemaker and her housewife lifestyle.During the night scenes she wears a nightgown and robe set which is more related to what the woman wears during Willy’s imaginative affairs. I liked how she managed to keep herself up to par even being stressed from Willy. Bliff Loman dresses in uniform wearing a letterman sweater with an S on it that represents his high school with a white button down underneath. At the scene of his dad’s funeral he wears a black suit and a gray tie representing his strength he will put on for his father. The stage layout takes play in Brooklyn at Willy Lomans house and uses different time frames to show the present and past.
The set shows both inside and out of the Lomans house. A small fragile seeming house that is not completely put together. At the corners of the wall a gap shows allowing the audience to see straight through but, this was helpful when Willy began to have flashbacks of the past it allowed for all the characters in his memories to walk in and out. Even the ceiling and roof is completely missing in a scene, also the backyard which is made of completely dirt this made the play more realistic. The entire play is set up against a backdrop but looks so realistic to me.The acting in Death Of A Salesman really stunned me. Actor Linda Loman Willy’s loyal loving wife truly played her part to the fullest, from suffering through Willy’s dreams and holding the weight of the house problems. She manages to still nurture and support the family. At times she seems to believe in Willy and his hopes but overall she is far more realistic and a strong character in the play.Overally I liked the dramatic character development and how all the cast members worked together to make the show believable and realistic to problems in households even today. Lastly, towards the end of the play Biff tries to make Willy face the truth about everyone, he stated that everyone was full of sh*t and Willy must of gone in to one of his hallucinating moments and acted like everything was okay when in minutes later after Biff thought he did something good and productive, Willy killed himself. He never could handle his truth, but as Billy as a son was stubborn he should off accepted his dad’s condition from the start, but it was all love and how much he wanted to help him get better and to see what was going on, which was childish and unrealistic.
127 our experts are availableright now
