by Steve Eskew
Welcome once again to the landscapes of Willy Loman's tormented mind.
The John Beasley Theater presents Arthur Miller's mesmerizing contemporary classic, Death of a Salesman. Originally titled The Inside of His Head, its half-century longevity can be attributed chiefly to audiences' loving, loathing, pitying, fearing and embracing Willy.
Crossing that threshold that provides access to Willy's mind can be likened to exploring a nightmare with all of its expressionistic distortions. As we watch his warped flow of consciousness unfold, we identify with his all-too-familiar predicament, for Willy's excessive lust for success and popularity frequently reflects frightening, albeit spellbinding images of ourselves.
Willy, a washed-out Brooklyn dreamer over 60 who's both economically challenged and spiritually impoverished, has struggled for decades pretending to be something he's not - a likable, successful salesman.
Presently, he's come home from his final sales trip to his excessively loyal wife, Linda (Erline M. Patrick).
The couple's two grown sons Biff and Happy (Guy Herman Shields Jr. and Tyrone Beasley, respectively) have returned home for the first time in years, a home where the inhabitants have always lived a lie. What happens during this fascinating family reunion reaps tragic consequences.
Director John Beasley (the definitive pro who also plays Willy) has created compelling theater, adeptly clarifying Miller's rich motifs and symbolism. Beasley's adroit directing choices juxtapose the riveting rhythms within his own mercurial acting, generating bravura entertainment.
Beasley's powerful acting performance exemplifies estimable physical, emotional and intellectual control in mastering the character's multiple contradictions: He's brave, yet cowardice; aggressive, but timid; loving and vengeful. Beasley's unassailable stage presence gravitates us right into the windmills of Willy's mind - a riveting place to visit but a horror to live in.
Beasley extracts impeccable performances from his principal players who complement and complete Miller's battle-torn tapestry. Ultimately, we witness how rage can be transmuted into groping, unselfish love.
Though Willy emerges from his battle mortally wounded, Beasley emphasizes that the tragedy could have been prevented, intimating that all Willy had to do was learn to be his own person, to liberate himself from certain corrupt societal dictates that constantly encourage us to compare ourselves to others.
At one point, Biff laments, "He never knew who he was." That's true. Then Biff asserts, "He had the wrong dreams. All, all wrong." That's false.
Beasley's interpretation communicates that Willy had the right dreams; he simply went searching in the wrong direction, becoming morally diminished and lost in madness.
Miller's criticism of our capitalist society and its compromising effect on some people's moral code depicts the tragedy of unrestrained competitive forces. The play exhibits how this invariably capitulates into materialism, jealousy and self-loathing, forcing the Willies of our world to march to the throbbing beat of demanding societal expectations, consequently becoming casualties of the system. But ultimately, Miller's artistic merit triumphs over his politics - his humanism overshadowing his Marxism.
Beasley's study of Miller's thesis poetically conveys a lesson for all of us: To avoid becoming a slave to - and ultimately a casualty of - the very system that we love.
Death of a Salesman runs through June 26 at the John Beasley Theater & Workshop inside the LaFern Williams Center, 3010 Q Street Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 and Sundays at 3 p.m. Admission is $20 general and $18 for students and seniors with proper ID. For more information call 444.3446