Happy Loman

On the cloudy morning of September 13, 2016, drama students from Oconomowoc High School, made the long trip from Oconomowoc, Wisconsin to Spring Green, Wisconsin to see a play at the unique theater, American Players Theater. This play was called “The Death of a Salesman”. The play was directed by Kenneth Albers with starring characters named, Willy Loman, Linda Loman, Biff Loman, Happy Loman, Charley, Uncle Ben, and Bernard. This play was about the Loman family that is falling apart, however, can’t seem to realize their failure themselves. The character who struggles the most is, Willy Loman. Willy is the father of the family and he believes that the way to be successful is to be popular. Willy raises his sons to become successful businessmen
by rewarding popularity rather than education. Biff was the stereotypical high school quarterback that wasn’t good at school. Happy was living in his brother's shadow and always trying to get his father's attention. Throughout this play, you will see how Willy Loman’s perspective on life doesn’t only destroy his life, but also his families.
During the play, I saw many characters who caught the attention of my eye. All these characters drew my attention for a different reason, whether they were good or bad. Two characters that didn’t only impress me with their acting ability, however, also disappointed me were, Linda Loman and Biff Loman. First of, Linda Loman who was played by Tracy Michelle Arnold, caught my attention during her performance because of her amazing ability to act as a much older woman than she is. Tracy Michelle Arnold is a woman who is in her early thirties, however, the character she plays is probably in her late sixties. Even with the huge age gap, she played this character perfectly. From her cracked old voice to the ways she hobbled across the stage and grabbed her hip as she stood it only made her real age more hard to believe. One thing that I believe Tracy Michelle Arnold could have done better is when acting is doing a better job of expressing her emotions through her tone of voice. I think that she was too worried about making sure she had that crackle to her voice and when I picture a grandmother I understand that they crackle a little bit, however, I feel like grandmothers always have super strong emotions that show through the way the talk. Another character I believe had an amazing performance but also had some area to approve is, Biff Loman. This character was played by a man named, Marcus Truschinski. Marcus did an excellent job of showing his emotions about his anger toward his hometown and family. However, I believe during one scene he could have done a better job taking that extra step by making the audience feel his emotions. This scene I speak of is when his character discovered his father’s affair. During this scene, I wasn't persuaded by his breakdown because his emotions during that scene weren't believable. While sitting in the audience I found it hard to feel his pain and I believe that if he could have made the emotions a little more believable the scene could have been made one of the better ones in the play, however, the lack of emotions in the audience made the scene fade away.
Throughout “Death of a Salesman”, I believe that the stage tech was an essential part of the success of the production, particularly in sound.
I found it interesting how whenever Uncle Ben would come in or out of the scene his kain would go, “pound, pound, pound.” I can’t help but wonder if that might have represented the clock of Willy’s life. Another interesting part about the play was the evil laugh that would play throughout the scenes. At first, I thought the laugh was just an annoying sound that didn’t make much sense, however, after exploring deeper I believe that the evil laugh was the voices in Willy’s head. I think that the evil laugh had a purpose in making the audience feel and understand what Willy was hearing instead his head and showing more of Willy’s
insanity.
Another important aspect for the success of any production is the costuming of the characters.
It’s important to realize that Willy never changed outfits. Throughout the whole play, he was wearing the brown suit. Even once they flashed black to the past, Willy was still in the suit. I believe the reasoning behind this costuming is to symbolize how Willy was stuck at a certain time of his life and never seemed to change no matter what time period the act was in. Even the other characters seemed to change costumes during the time periods switches. I believe the reasoning for the other characters had costume changes was because the other characters such as Biff, Happy, Linda, and Bernard kept living their lives and truly changed as time past. During the production, Linda wore really old and beat up clothes which emphasized the effects of living with her husband, Willy. The clothes that she was wearing were slowly fading and I believe it was to represent how Linda was dying on the inside because of her battle to stand by her
husband.
To conclude, when remembering the actors acting, stage tech, and costumes for the play, “Death of a salesman” even though the message was powerful, I would not recommend this for everybody. I do believe that an older audience would appreciate and connect to the messages that are portrayed during the play. I believe that a younger audience wouldn’t appreciate the message as much just because there are moments and jokes from an older time that might be lost for a person who isn’t familiar with the time period. I know from experience that personally, being a teen, made it difficult for me to really connect with a lot of the parts. I think that there are some things that teens can relate to, such as Biffs fear of letting his father down, Willy’s high expectations for his children, and the impact of a mentally ill loved one. Even though I don’t believe that all of the younger audience can relate, I do believe that the outside theater is an experience that everybody should have. It was really fortunate that the day we went to the play it was gloomy because it really went along with the theme. I would definitely recommend the unique American Players Theaters but, my recommendation for the “Death of a Salesman” is really dependant on age and maturity.