THEATRE
Written by Arthur Miller
At Her Majesty’s Theatre until 22 August 2026 (Then Brisbane & Adelaide)
Reviewer: Kate Herbert
Stars: **** *4)
This review is published only on this blog. I’ll present a radio review on Arts Weekly 3MBS Sat 15 Aug 2026. KH
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Arthur Miller’s impassioned and tragic play, Death of a Salesman, has not dated since its premiere in 1949. It is testament to the quality of Miller’s writing and the universality of his play’s themes.
The play may be 80 years old, but its character, themes and social context are frighteningly relevant in our current times. Miller rages at injustice, inequality, capitalism and the fantasy that is the American Dream.
Anthony LaPaglia reprises his much-lauded role as Willy Loman in this production directed deftly and sensitively by Neil Armfield.
Salesman reflects Miller’s interest in Greek tragedies: Willy Loman is a man with a fatal flaw that has caused his life to go off the rails. His flaw is the self-deception that masks his inferiority complex. It then develops into self-delusion, disorientation, forgetfulness, disassociation and suicidal tendencies. It is an alarming portrait of a man who once had, and then lost, all hope.
Anthony LaPaglia portrays Willy as a tragic shell of a man whose life has not turned out the way he imagined. He plays Willy with a lumbering gait and a slight limp that embody the weight of despair that crushes him. To avoid his exhaustion and defeat, he grasps at memories, reliving moments of his life, attempting to regain his grip on the fantasy he created about his life. He rages at the reality of his circumstances that he can no longer ignore.
Willy is 60 and has worked for decades as a salesman but is now reduced to being a travelling and selling on low – or no – commission. Willy wanted to live the American Dream, encouraged his sons to be achievers, aimed for the heights in business, status and likeability, but never reached his goals. Now at the end of his life, this crumpled, ageing salesman has become obsolete and faces unemployment and financial ruin.
Alison Whyte gives a remarkable and raw performance as his long-suffering wife, Linda. She is determined, protective and resilient. She is the glue that holds – or used to hold – Willy and the family together. Her final speech is heartrending and electric. “We’re free!”, she says, dolefully, but neither she nor Willy can never be free.
As Willy’s older son, Biff, Josh Helman shifts from repressed anger to bravado then to pathos in his sense of defeat. He shows glimpses of Biff’s adolescent glory and promise but, like his father, he is defeated by his unfulfilled potential. He is the only member of the Loman family to finally face the reality of his life and the world’s crushing pressure.
Ben O’Toole as Happy, the relentlessly upbeat, womanising young buck, captures the desperate self-deception that he learnt so early from Willy. When Biff attempts to chip away Happy’s fantasy, Happy’s resistant, volatile nature emerges.
Dale Ferguson’s design fills most of the stage with a representation of the old Ebbets Stadium, complete with commentary box. Armfield seats the off-stage cast in the bleachers, observing the on-stage action. They are like a silent Greek Chorus and echoes from his past that haunt his mind. The “off-stage” actors’ presence is an inventive device that works wonderfully in some scenes, but at times this feels like a contrivance or a redundancy.
Miller’s masterpiece has an achingly emotional ending that leaves us wondering, “Is there another way to live a successful life?” For Willy Loman, there was not.
By Kate Herbert
Cast
Anthony LaPaglia – Willy Loman
Alison Whyte – Linda Loman
Josh Helman – Biff Loman
Ben O’Toole – Happy Loman
Marco Chiappi – Charley
Darcy Brown – Bernard
Creative Team
Neil Armfield – Director
Dale Ferguson – Set Design
Dale Ferguson & Sophie Woodward – Costume Design
Niklas Pajanti – Lighting Design
Composer – Alan John
Performance and Direction
• Anthony LaPaglia delivers a fragile, and exhausted portrayal of Willy Loman, masking deep vulnerability beneath a towering physical presence.
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• Alison Whyte shines as Linda Loman, offering a tender yet fierce performance anchored by a shaking, powerful finale.
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• Josh Helman portrays Biff Loman with immense pathos, capturing the complex weight of his father's unrealistic expectations.
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• Neil Armfield directs the revival with an inspired vision, utilizing the ensemble cast seated on a rusted Ebbets Field grandstand to watch the tragedy unfold like a Greek chorus or haunting memory.
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Themes and Relevance
• Reviewers note that the 1949 Pulitzer Prize-winning script feels bitterly relevant today, hitting home against the backdrop of modern cost-of-living pressures and the crushing weight of capitalist expectations.
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• The stark staging and emotional weight make the classic conclusion feel like a fresh, devastating wound for modern audiences
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