Chanting Kaddish For Willy Loman
May 7th, 2008 by Menachem Wecker
My review of “A View From The Bridge” and “Death Of A salesman” at The Arthur Miller Festival at Arena Stage is in The Jewish Press.
Willy Loman (center), with his two sons Hap (left) and Biff (right) in “Death of a Salesman” at Arena Stage.
Here’s the full statement from Aaron Davidman, artistic director of Traveling Jewish Theatre in San Francisco:
Hi Menachem,
Our production brought out what we considered to be the inherent Jewish identity of the Loman family and of Bernard and Charlie. All the men wore kipot only in the epilogue at the funeral, and it was the only moment of visual Jewish identity. The feel of Willy’s Jewishness came out in his speech and vocal intonation, how he carried himself, the fact the we are a Jewish theatre and that Corey Fischer is so well known as a Jewish actor exploring Jewish material. all these elements made Willy clearly Jewish. similar for Linda. But it was subjective. Some audiences members said the play was SO Jewish it made the play make sense to them. Others didn’t get how it was supposed to be Jewish.
We saw the boys as completely assimilated.As for Miller, I have no idea what he might think.
Hope this helps.
Best,
Aaron
And then in response to my follow-ups:
To my knowledge, ours was the first overtly Jewish production. Oskar Eustis told me he always thought it was Jewish play. Others did as well.
Yes, they all wore kippot, but only at the funeral, and Biff and Hap removed theirs before they began to speak that scene, so it was very brief, as if they had to wear them for the ritual. I also had a live cello on stage.
I think it’s a stretch to say that Bernard and Charley are “practicing Jews.” There is nothing in the text to support that.
We said that they were more connected to their Jewish identity. To the value of learning and school. To more traditionally Jewish values. That knowing who you are gives you a better chance at success in this world. While Willy didn’t know who he was and bought the promise of capitalism and it destroyed him, like it does so many Americans who trade in the riches of their ethnic identity and custom to chase the false promise of the American dream.