Death of a Salesman

Death of a Salesman, the famous work by Arthur Miller, is on stage at the Teatro Argentina, directed by Carlo Sciaccaluga, in which the story becomes a mirror of contemporary anxieties.

Staged in New York in 1949 and directed by Elia Kazan, the drama is considered one of the most important works of contemporary American theatre. It is perhaps the greatest theatrical success of the post-war period, thanks to the themes it addresses, such as family conflict, criticism of the American dream and the moral responsibility of the individual.

Indeed, while America in the late 1940s was immersed in a paradoxical optimistic momentum typical of the post-war period - between reconstruction, economic boom, and blind faith in unlimited social advancement - the American playwright captures the dark side of that myth, namely the brutality hidden beneath the surface of success, the loneliness of those who measure their worth by competition, and the desperation of those who cannot afford failure.

Thus Willy Loman, the weary traveling salesman victim of a system based on the inexorable laws of productivity, is not only the representative of an America of that era, but in the director's updated version of the drama, he identifies with contemporary man in a world that no longer recognizes the value of error and fragility. What also makes the work revolutionary is its formal structure; in fact, Miller, breaking the linearity of time, abolishes any separation between reality and memory, present and past, dream and consciousness, and thanks to a scene that highlights the rawness of emotions and an acting that addresses the characters' naked hearts, he restores the full power of the drama.

With Luca Lazzareschi, Pia Lanciotti and Sergio Basile, Andrea Nicolini, Giovanni Arezzo, Silvia Biancalana, Domenico Bravo, Giovanni Cannata,Michele De Paola, Eletta Del Castillo, Riccardo Livermore, Chiara Sarcona.

Photo: Rosellina Garbo