The Grand Theater
Classics are classic because they’re so damn good, and Death of a Salesman is no exception to the rule. As it’s pretty rare that anyone does it, we feel pretty strongly that Salt Lakers far and wide should make a big effort to experience Arthur Miller’s brilliantly-crafted work. Thanks to the Grand Theater and their “American Classics” series, we can all do just that from March 7th – 23rd. As the Grand production’s director, Mark Fossen, points out, this play created some substantial controversy when it premiered in 1949. Until then, tragedy had been defined as those stories that told of kings and noblemen fallen from grace. Death of a Salesman, however, made the first attempt to define the tragedy of the common man. According to Fossen, “in this play Arthur Miller believed that a modern man of the middle class could be a tragic figure in the common mold”. What makes it interesting, he says, “is not the academic argument of it’s bona fides as Greek tragedy, but rather the idea that this play defines man’s fear of being displaced and the disaster in being torn away from the image we have of ourselves and who we are in the world. The common man knows this fear best.”
True that…best not to miss this. Go now and purchase tickets [$10 – $24] here.
*Matinee: Saturdays, March 9th & 16th, 2pm
Biff Daniel Beecher
Happy Rusty Bringhurst
Linda Anita Booher*
Willy Loman Richard Edward Scott*
*Indicates member of Actors’ Equity Association
