GEOFF BOTTOMS relishes a profoundly human portrait of a family as it evolves across 55 years in Sheffield
Death of a Salesmen
Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester
MILLIONS of US citizens believe that the their constitution enshrines the right of “every citizen to achieve success and prosperity through hard work, determination and individual initiative.”
But the reality of the American Dream is very different. Achieving it is exclusively for the 1 per cent.
Willy Loman, the poor schmuck at the centre of Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman, is determined, works hard and instils in his sons the importance of achieving success. Yet, after 36 years criss-crossing New England trying to sell whatever wares his bosses want sold, his reward is to be reduced to earning his corn through commission only.
MARY CONWAY is spellbound by superb performances in Arthur Miller’s study of the social and personal stress brought about by Nazi Germany’s Kristallnacht
GORDON PARSONS acknowledges the authority with which Sarah Kane’s theatrical justification for suicide has resonance today
PAUL FOLEY welcomes a dramatic account of the men and women involved in the pivotal moment of the 5th Pan African Congress



