Attention Must Be Paid to TAP's 'Salesman'

By Linda Busetti
HERALD Staff Writer
(From the issue of 2/7/02)

Why rent a video next weekend when an American theater classic, "Death of a Salesman," will be presented by The Arlington Players (TAP) at the Thomas Jefferson Theater in Arlington?

There was room for many more theatergoers at last Saturday’s performance on opening weekend. This is a great opportunity for young people to experience community theater at its best or for anyone to re-visit Arthur Miller’s play that originally opened on Broadway in 1951.

"Death of a Salesman" presents the last days of Willy Loman, a traveling salesman, "as he faces the fact that he is a failure," according to director Chuck Whalen.

The play deals with a "parent’s expectations of their children’s future, and living through them; disappointments of choices made early in life and playing the game ‘what if?’ for years to come; or following the American Dream — never to realize that it may have changed, or that you had the wrong one," Whalen said.

Donald Neal, in his TAP debut, does an excellent job portraying Willy as a man at the end of his rope. Willy doesn’t understand why his sons Biff (Jeffrey S. E. Sculley) and Happy (Jake Call) are not successful like Bernard (Giuseppe DeBartolo), the son of Loman’s sympathetic neighbor Charley (Paul Marvel). Only Willy’s wife Linda (Sally Kalmus) recognizes his peril. "Attention must be paid" to this drowning man she warns her sons.

Sculley gives an especially powerful performance as a son who loves his father in spite of Willy’s shortcomings. "The man never knew who he was," Biff says in the final scene. He will never be the businessman Willy wants him to be. Biff’s struggle is to extricate himself from his father’s dreams so he can live his own life. Ultimately, Biff is set free.

"We were able to assemble a very talented cast of both veteran actors as well as emerging young actors," Whalen said. "The layering of their performance and character development should bring an exciting and rewarding experience for the audience." Audiences will appreciate the care Whalen has taken with Miller’s play.

An Alberto Giacometti portrait of playwright Jean Genet inspired the minimalist set design by Whalen, the director explains in the program notes.

Performances run until Feb. 16 on Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m., with a Sunday matinee on Feb. 10 at 2:30 p.m. at Thomas Jefferson Theatre at 125 Old Glebe Road in Arlington. For reservations call 703/549-1063.

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