“Death of a Salesman” is utterly dark and dreary for a drama long considered to be a standard of American theater.
There’s no silver lining in the story of Willie Loman and his painful fall from grace. Loman is a traveling salesman in his 60s unable to sustain the demands of his job. He has to face unsettling truths about his own failures and shortcomings. He must come to terms with fatal insights on how his flaws have derailed the dreams, hopes and happiness of his wife and two sons. The first scene in the first act of Arthur Miller’s seminal work is depressing, and it only gets worse from there.
Sigh, moan and groan all you want. The show’s unflinching heart punches still make for the most compelling kind of theater around.
Director Anthony Powell understands that, and he shows that understanding in the masterful production on “Salesman” currently running at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts. Powell, a former actor and director with the Denver Center Theatre Company, returned to his former digs for the show, the season premiere in the DCTC’s 2013-14 season. The show is a glorious homecoming on multiple levels.
The most obvious is the stellar performance by a stunning ensemble cast. As Willie Loman, Mike Hartman is nuanced, brave and brilliant. Willie Loman is a character that can easily fall apart with the wrong kind of interpretation. Play the part for too much sympathy and the intent of Miller’s work is spoiled. Convey Loman as a character worthy of pity, and you dismay the underlying message of the show. Hartman avoids these traps. His Loman is stubborn and willful. His admirable traits – a fierce devotion to family, a constant work ethic that spans decades – never undermine his fatal flaws. Hartman vividly paints the character as a man gradually undone by his own pride and his own self-deception. They’re the traits that make him fail to see the flaws in his own character or the flaws in his two sons. They’re the traits that end up hurting his entire family.
And this is a play all about family. The rest of the cast bring just as much complexity and depth to the rest of the Lomans. As Linda Loman, Lauren Klein brings a heartbreaking amount of humanity to the role of Willie’s life. Linda has her own strains of denial to deal with as she watches her husband’s descent. The signs are all there – Linda has to helplessly watch as a silent witness and Willie Loman falls to his own demons. Her powerlessness – a sharp critique of the role of women in 1950s America – comes through in Klein’s measured and uncompromising performance.
Linda’s not the only one in denial about Willie’s plight. As Happy Loman, M. Scott Mclean offers insights into the role of Loman’s more successful son. Happy’s small victories in the professional world make him a standout compared to his brother Biff, and Mclean offers a tragic amount of complacency to the role.
But it’s John Patrick Hayden who stands out the most starkly in his portrayal of Biff. A man in his mid-30s scarred by decades of professional and personal failures, Biff returns to his parents’ home in search of a new direction. It’s a futile effort. Biff’s return brings him face-to-face with his own failures, as well as the tragic truth about his father. Hayden is luminous in this difficult role. Biff’s final confrontation with a father too burdened by his own flaws is a highlight of the show.
But the standout performances are only part of this successful take on Miller’s masterpiece. Powell isn’t content to stick to long-held conventions of the show. The show runs in the Space Theatre, an auditorium in the round that precludes the traditional set design spelled out in Miller’s text. The Loman house isn’t on tiers. Instead, set designer Lisa Orzolek depicts the Loman’s Brooklyn home as abstractly as possible. The only traces of the home come in the architectural fragments that hang above the stage.
Scenes in the Loman’s living room unroll in the same space as flashbacks and recollections unfolding in Loman’s head. It makes for a narrative without definite boundaries, a story that flips between different times and places. The approach works, and it manages to add new facets to a show that’s impossible to improve. For all the tragedy and dreariness in this show, it’s a creative accomplishment that lends the production a feel of triumph and accomplishment.
FOUR STARS OUT OF FOUR
“Death of a Salesman”
Runs from Sept. 20 to Oct. 20 at the Space Theatre, 1101 13th St., Denver.
Tickets start at $38.
Information: 303-893-9582 or denvercenter.org.
Reach reporter Adam Goldstein at 720-449-9707 or agoldstein@aurorasentinel.com