The production of Arthur Miller’s 1949 Pulitzer Prize-winning
Death of a Salesman
is coinciding with the 100th anniversary of the playwright’s birth. It’s unarguably one of the great plays of the 20th century, and Cincy Shakes’ artistic director Brian Isaac Phillips has put together a masterful staging featuring two of our region’s finest professional actors.
Bruce Cromer pours himself into the weary nowhere man, Willy Loman, a traveling salesman at the end of his sadly frayed rope. He admits to being “a little tired,” but he’s way beyond that. He lives in a world of self-aggrandizing fantasy, haunted by his past, roads not taken and wrong-headed decisions. He vacillates between blaming others for his plight — especially his weak-willed son Biff (Justin McCombs) — and reverting to glories that never actually happened in a life that was truly humdrum. He yearns to be remembered, but of course, he’s not done much worthy of recollection. Cromer runs the gamut from delusion to regret in an anxious, wrenching performance. Read the full review here.
Death of a Salesman
, presented by Cincinnati Shakespeare Company, continues through Nov. 7. More info/tickets: cincyshakes.com.
This article appears in Oct 21-27, 2015.
