Death of a Salesman Group

Topic: What do you think would be the greatest challenges in staging a real performance of Death of a Salesman?

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1

jasmine14

Identify one of the challenges and propose a solution for how it might be staged.

2

mshurn

Because the play moves back and forth in time and shifts between real action on the stage and the internal workings of Willy's mind, staging it presents special challenges. Fortunately, Arthur Miller provided very specific and detailed stage directions within his script which should be followed exactly so that the audience does not become lost in the play's structural complexity.

Special attention should be paid to the color and placement of the lights, since it is largely through the lighting that Miller indicates the shifts in setting and the play's external/internal action. 

3

In reply to #2:

This is probably the only real challenge in the play. It is hard to portray the scenes in which Willy imagines them, thus removing the dramatic tension in the play. This can be solved not only through lighting, but with background color as well.

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