Wife Of A Salesman
Wife Of A Salesman at Writers Theatre hypothetically answer the question of "What If," from Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman
Writers Theatre continues its 2021/22 Season with an intriguing and tantalizing world premiere drama called Wife of a Salesman by Eleanor Burgess. Taking inspiration from the original 1949 stage play written by one of America's best-known playwright Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman, Wife of a Salesman investigates the "What if" hypothetical scenario of the Wife of Willy Loman confronting his mistress. Influenced by her grandmothers and Miller's work, playwright Burgess reminisces on a trip with her mother where she learns that her grandfather was a salesman from Brooklyn, similar to the character of Willy Loman around the same time Miller wrote the play. Hearing that, she wanted to open the world to another side of this Tony Award-winning play, Death of a Salesman, translating to Writers Theatre spirited drama, Wife of a Salesman, directed by Jo Bonney.
Centered around the Wife of Willy Loman, Linda, who playfully or not, can only be defined as "The Wife," in this play for legal actions, decides to confront Loman's mistress. The imaginary drama unfolds when a housewife becomes tired of her husband's betrayal, but fearing what a confrontation with him would do to their marriage, drove 227 miles from Brooklyn to Boston to confront her husband's mistress?
To get into the mistress's apartment, she falsely pretends to be a saleswoman. The mistress, aware of the charade, curiously contemplates what enranged her to drive to her abode and lets her in. She lets the wife play out the charade of being a saleswoman, and she playfully pokes holes in her presentation before divulging she knows she is the wife of her lover. Vulgarity ensues from the once submissive and mild-mattered wife, angered that the mistress has no feelings or concern that she is destroying a marriage, a home, and the pride of her children for their father. Conflicted by her feelings but determined to confirm her relationship with a married man, the mistress counterattacks by making the wife feel at fault. Telling her that if you looked more provocative and tried harder to please him as I do, he would not have come to me. They continue with unpleasantries until they realize that they have more in common than differences.
Playwright Eleanor Burgess in the Wife of a Salesman summarizes in this play that maybe it's the outside world forcing these ladies into these roles that many believe women are expected to play. The sexy lady that men desire leads to a docile, submissive woman of marriage that performs the function of womanhood. Men, who assimilate the woman's ambitions and aspirations into their world, built from the dreams and the many cases, the nightmares of men where the woman never seems to matter once they surrendered.
As the intensify thickens, Wife of a Salesman abruptly stops as a phone rings. Let me entice you by not divulging whose phone was ringing; however, Burgess incorporates this interruption into giving the audience a backstage view, cutting from the scene to review and discuss comments and viewpoints from the woman performing in the play. This diversion felt somewhat odd and puzzling, ostensibly pulling the audience away from the enticing drama between the two ladies. But, to her credit, Burgess uses this theatrical timeout to bring out the age-old conflict between men vs. women, sort of like the feminist movement vs. the egotistical, dominant of men as the head of the world seemingly dismissive of the women's viewpoint.
Burgess describes this "Letting two characters from the past loose in a modern way," which can be seen as the ladies propositioning Jim, the on-stage manager, about including their thoughts regarding the wife and the mistress. Then, making suggestions on how they would interact or think during their explosive encounters, hoping to get their opinions included in the final cut. A radio is playing in the background featuring a male voice that Burgess describes as the outside world invading their inmate entanglement, reminding them of what makes a woman in the eyes of a man. One of Burgess's final deliberation regarding inequality is when Amanda Drinkall, playing the mistress, mentioned that the world would have been a better place if men had listened to women's wisdom historically.
Wife of a Salesman is a thought-provoking performance that eulogizes the power and pain of being a woman. From feeling isolated, unappreciated, desired but forgotten, as she holds life within her hands, only to be told it's a man's world. However, women hold the key to our dreams from birth to burial.
The wife of a Salesman cast features one of my favorite actors, the incomparable Kate Fry. Adding Kate Fry in any theatrical play is a lock for an outstanding performance. Fry, who always masters any role she plays, does another phenomenal performance as The Wife, a docile and desperate woman seeking to save her marriage and family, supporting her husband even though he treats her poorly and ignores her opinions.
In Death of a Salesman, Arthur Miller describes the lady Willy Lowan is after an affair with as, "The Woman; however, she called, The Mistress (Amanda Drinkall) in Wife of a Salesman. Drinkall, who is making her Writers Theatre debut, shines as the arrogant mistress, who lacks compassion and has no moral standards or decency when hearing about the wife's plight. Fry's and Drinkall's chemistry is alluring, providing an opposite appeal that is captivating and leads to 90 minutes of pure stimulating drama.
To his part, Rom Barkhordar perfectly played the on-stage production manager who fumbles with making sure he stays politically correct, fighting not to use offensive words when describing groups, things, and the ladies on stage.
I wasn't a fan of the cut scenes, wishing they would have added 30 minutes to the production so the audience could fully digest the importance of the communication between the ladies, Jim, and the off-stage production team, which I felt would have been easier to follow during and after an intermission.
In synopsis, Wife of a Salesman deals with emotional subjects like abortion, divorce, and hints about killing someone you love, which may be disturbing but unfortunately and realistically is part of us coming to grips with the facts of life. There have been many summarizations of Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman; however, Miller has debunked them as he considered The Death of a Salesman as a love story between a father and his son. And the loss of love and the finding of love again. Wife of a Salesman will also have people coming up with many conclusions. Still, one thing is for sure; you can't question it's a well-written play with great performances, besides my trepidation of the interruptions between scenes.
Based on the alluring chemistry of Fry and Drinkall, Let's Play Highly Recommends, Wife of A Salesman at Writers Theatre.
Writers Theatre
Wife of A Salesman
Written by Eleanor Burgess
Directed by Jo Bonney
Now Running through April 3, 2022
