Death Of A Salesman review: Phenomenal reworking of Miller classic is just as mesmerising in the West End

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Nick Curtis @nickcurtis6 November 2019

A hit at the Young Vic, this majestic reinvention of Arthur Miller’s 1949 classic has become a phenomenon. It has at its heart two tremendous performances.

Wendell Pierce, star of The Wire and Meghan Markle’s screen dad in Suits, fathoms startling depths of emotion as Willy Loman, a byproduct of the American Dream. He is matched by Sharon D Clarke as Linda, Willy’s proud, stern, infinitely patient wife Linda.

Marianne Elliott and Miranda Cromwell’s meticulous production holds you mesmerised for over three hours, and the ending is devastating. They are not the first to depart from the idea of Willy as white and Jewish, but they are the first to imagine a black Loman family in a largely white Brooklyn milieu. This adds an edge to the setbacks and slurs they suffer, and a new dimension to the play. Both directors and Pierce are rightly shortlisted in this year’s Evening Standard Theatre Awards.

Miller’s script now looks more like a cry for recognition of the underdog than an outright critique of capitalism. Willy is one payment away from owning his house, but cares more for affection and admiration than wealth, for himself and his sons.

Two impressive newcomers to this West End transfer, Sope Dirisu and Natey Jones, slot seamlessly into the oppressive family dynamic as failed football protégé Biff and attention-seeking womaniser Happy.

Anna Fleischle expands her original exploded set of hovering props and windows, an expression of the slow fragmentation of Willy’s mind — Miller’s original title was The Inside Of His Head — and of his family.

And it’s in expressing Willy’s disintegrating mental state that Pierce truly excels. He is by turns frightened, affectionate, furious and lost, feelings moving through his face and body like waves.

But Clarke is just as good: soft with Willy, pitiless with her feckless sons. She’s one of about 10 UK actresses who can define a mood by her stance. This is great. See it if you can.

Until January 4 ( 08544 871 7623, thepiccadillytheatre.com)

November's best theatre

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