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" Death of a Salesman deals with these themes, most obviously the 'American dream' but there's a wider undercurrent about how to treat each other as human beings and that's going on here at the moment. He sees it as highlighting the kind of debates New Zealand is having about the society it wants to be. Hughes points out that much has been written about the play's continuing relevance.
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Its most recent Broadway revival, this year, with Philip Seymour Hoffman as Loman, garnered two more Tony Awards, and it broke box office records at Sydney's Belvoir Theatre which had to extend its run. It is a pleasure to play someone with inner strength."īoth Hughes and Knowles have seen performances of Death of a Salesman Knowles six years ago in Wellington with Henare in the lead role, and Hughes at the Mercury Theatre when he was in his last year at secondary school and Blackburn played Loman.īoth recall being provoked and moved by the story and performances but say though the feelings prompted by the play may linger, precise memories do not. "I think it's fair to say I'm often playing the clown, so this is a challenge for me as there are some habits I have to break. Often cast in goofier roles - think Shortland Street's Martin "Sticky" Stickwell - he welcomes portraying a character with strength and status. Hughes says playing Biff offers him the opportunity to show another side to his acting. "But Ian looks the way I imagine Biff will, he's the right age, he's perfect with accents and he's versatile and incredibly intelligent so he brings the kind of insight you need to the character." Peach says it was a straightforward decision to cast Knowles as Happy because he is charismatic and confident like the character, but he acknowledges - as does Hughes - some might be surprised at his choice for Biff.
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Ian Hughes and Richard Knowles play the Loman sons, Biff and Happy, who have well and truly had the sins and expectations of their father laid upon them. Veteran performers Ken Blackburn, Bruce Phillips and Annie Whittle join rising talents Anna Jullienne and Nic Samson in the leading roles. Jesse Peach, who returns to New Zealand from Sydney to direct the latest incarnation of Death of a Salesman, began recruiting his actors over a year ago with George Henare as Loman, the cornerstone of his cast, and Catherine Wilkin as Loman's wife, Linda. Given that, and the force of all that Loman represents, a director must cast carefully and considerately every player needs to be able to hold their own and through their performances communicate the rich range of playwright Arthur Miller's ideas. A new production of Arthur Miller's classic Death of a Salesman highlights the play's continuing relevance.Īs one of modern theatre's most complex and tragically flawed characters, Willy Loman dominates the dreadfully beautiful Death of a Salesman to the extent that the importance of the other players may be overlooked.īut it is those around Loman - his sons, his wife and his neighbours - who mirror the man's faults and failings and reflect glimpses of another life he, and they, might have lived had he not been so hellbent on adhering to social expectations and pursuing a restricted version of the so-called American dream.