‘I’m gonna show you and everybody else that Willy Loman did not die in vain. He had a good dream. It’s the only dream you can have — to come out number one man.’ Imagine a punching bag delivering these lines at the sorry, little funeral of Willy Loman. ‘Eh?!’ was precisely the reaction we had. After the success ofit’s production of ‘Chaos’, earlier in March, Theater Mitu is back for a very limited time only. This time, they’ve set out to engage audiences with an experimental rendition of Arthur Miller’s ‘Death of a Salesman.’
New York University of Abu Dhabi (NYUAD) will host what promises to be a daring production, which not only casts inanimate objects as minor characters, but incorporates elements of Japanese Noh, Balinese masks and Thai Puppetry. This aspect alone had our inner literatis on the edge of their proverbial seats. And then we heard about the live quartet and timeworn chorus, which near knocked the wind out of our Art Editor. Bring it all together with some excellent stage design, and the result is a haunting and minimalist vision that is as convincing as it is off the wall.
In the run up to the show, director (and associate professor of theatre at NYUAD) Rubén Polendo has had his hands full with rehearsals until 11pm every day. So unfortunately, we didn’t get to speak to him as we’d hoped. We did, however speak to a man just as cool. And this man was Tyler Penfield, associate producer at Theater Mitu.
Our first question was an obvious choice: Why cast punching bags and fridge doors as characters in the play? What gives?
There was a chuckle, followed by this, ‘When we first came up with it, the company had a conversation about what ‘Death of a Salesman’ looked like in Theater Mitu’s vision. And then Rubén conceived a world inside of Willy Loman’s head, and what the characters looked like there. The punching bag represents a character who, is in the metaphorical sense, a punching bag for other characters in the play.’ This is in reference to Happy Loman, and we see Tyler’s point. ‘We’ve got fridge doors, lamps, fans –all of these are literal icons of what each character is in Willy Loman’s head.’
Given that the play employs lots of different styles of acting and elements borrowed from various theatrical traditions, we asked Tyler to take us through this aspect. He began with the company methodology, what they refer to as ‘whole theatre’ – an experience that is rigorously visual, aural, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual all in the same moment. What it involves for Theater Mitu, is researching world theatre and even performative aspects of religious practices that are then collected into an amalgamated piece.
In addition to the aforementioned Balinese masks, Japanese Noh, and Thai puppetry, the play also features Butoh – a form of modern Japanese dance theatre which employs slow and very precise movements, to explore expression and emotion in the core of human existence. And if that’s not heavy enough for you, it’s all complimented with live musical performances of traditional Thai funerary dirges. ‘But with a jazz orchestration,’ Tyler adds, ‘to match the style of the piece.’
Now with this being Theater Mitu’s first time to bring ‘Death of a Salesman,’ to an audience outside of the play’s native New York, we asked, why now, and why Abu Dhabi?
‘It’s following on from the message that ‘Chaos’ intended to communicate,’ says Tyler, ‘which was about what it’s like to create a home in a place that isn’t your home. This was relevant to us and to Abu Dhabi, because there are so many people in this city who have left their families, and come out here to work.’
For Theater Mitu, ‘Death of a Salesman’ is similar in that it echoes the same themes but with ideas of hopes, dreams, and plans for the future. It’s relevant to our here and now, because Abu Dhabi is a place that is constantly developing, ever focused on what the future will be. And amidst all of this, we’re tackling ideas of our own dreams and hopes, and questions of what our own reality is.
Death of a Salesman is a free event but spaces are limited so you will need to register online: nyuad.nyu.edu/news.events/events.ad.html. November 24-26 from 7.30pm at NYUAD, Downtown Campus (02 628 4000).
