Attention must be paid to this new Salesman
Celebrated director Marianne elliott — the toast of the town thanks to her acclaimed reimagined version of musical Company — is collaborating with the daughter of playwright arthur Miller to direct his seminal play death Of a Salesman with an all-black cast.
It will be led by Wendell Pierce, the Juilliard-trained Hollywood actor who will play Miller’s decimated hero Willy loman, one of the greatest roles in theatre.
Pierce has appeared in countless films (including Selma) and television dramas. He played world- weary detective bunk Moreland on the Wire; trombonist antoine batiste in treme (set in his hometown of New Orleans); and law firm boss robert Zane — father of the character played by the former Meghan Markle (aka the duchess of Sussex) in legal drama Suits.
the Olivier- award winning Sharon d. Clarke signed on yesterday to play linda, the wife who understands how her husband’s pursuit of the american dream has destroyed him.
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play will run in the West end from May 2019, confirmed Chris Harper, elliott’s producing partner at elliott & Harper Productions. they founded the company when they left the National theatre, where elliott directed a string of successes including War Horse and the Curious Incident Of the dog In the Night-time.
the pair won Olivier and tony awards this year for elliott’s acclaimed Nt version of tony Kushner’s epic angels In america with andrew Garfield.
Harper revealed that elliott directed a private reading of Miller’s 1949 play two years ago, with the playwright’s filmmaker daughter rebecca Miller (who controls her father’s literary estate) in attendance. Harper said Miller couldn’t have been more ‘collaborative and keen’.
‘ We did the reading and it worked completely,’ said Harper, who added that Pierce didn’t participate in the workshop.
‘When it was written, it was a totally modern play; and it has remained relevant,’ he observed.
He added that presenting the drama with a black company ‘allows you to see it through different eyes, without any of the text being changed’. all of us know a Willy loman. He’s the 63- year- old salesman, married with two sons and a house in brooklyn (almost paid for) who has been shafted by his company.
His clients have died off and he’s working for commission only, driving 700-mile round trips to New england, returning with nothing to show for his efforts. He’s exhausted and ready to burst.
His wife linda famously squares up to their sons biff and Happy, and tells them something awful is happening to their father. ‘He’s a human being, and a terrible thing is happening to him. So attention must be paid. He’s not allowed to fall into his grave like an old dog. attention, attention must be finally paid to such a person.’
Clarke, who will utter those lines, is currently rehearsing musical Caroline, Or Change which will move into the Playhouse theatre from November 20, after runs at Hampstead and Chichester Festival theatres. there have been productions of death Of a Salesman with african-american casts before, though Miller was dismissive of one he saw in baltimore in the Seventies, complaining that the actors ‘weren’t that good’. during a 1998 interview he added ‘it had nothing to do with race’.
‘When the acting is terrific, the whole thing works. but that’s true whether they’re white or black — or Chinese. If you put on a lousy production with white actors, it’s lousy.’ Miller famously directed productions in China and Sweden.
elliott knows how to get the best out of great writing and top-of-the-line actors.
Interestingly, don Warrington is playing loman, as part of a mixed company, at the royal exchange in Manchester. Meanwhile, Harper is negotiating with a West end theatre.