Death of a Salesman

Willy Loman is feeling his age. He and his wife Linda are struggling to make their mortgage repayments. The company he works for is branching out in new directions and it looks like he’s about to be left behind. When his university drop-out son, Biff, moves back home after years of drifting, old tensions rise to the surface.

Arguably the greatest play of the twentieth century, Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman is about a man refusing to let go of the false dreams we were all once promised.

Returning to our corner stage after an absence of 30 years, Colin Friels tackles the role of a lifetime in Simon Stone’s take on this timeless masterpiece.

Finally, Arthur Miller’s play gets, not just the Belvoir treatment, but the treatment of Simon Stone, still simmering and steaming from Strange Interlude. Artistic director Ralph Myers – who will be mostly taking a much-deserved break from set designing in 2012 to concentrate on artistic direction – is on board as set designer, and composer/sound designer Stefan Gregory is also attached to the production. Will there be solo flute and a house of transparent walls? We'll just have to find out.

The time is right for the production, says Stone – who also calls the play the greatest of the 20th century. In contrast to his ruthless adaptations of The Wild Duck, Thyestes and Strange Interlude, Stone won't be fiddling with Willy.

15 MAR UPDATE: Belvoir have announced – actually they haven't announced it but we saw it on the website – that Colin Friels and Genevieve Lemon will be joined on stage by Luke Mullins (making a much-awaited return to Belvoir) and Patrick Brammall who will hopefully be wearing pants. 

30 MAR UPDATE: Hamish Michael and Pip Miller have been added to the cast.

14 APR UPDATE: For goodness sake. Steve Le Marquand and Blazey Best have been added to the cast.