2013 Press Releases
Death of a Salesman brought to life
Irish-American TV and film actor Patrick Cronin will breathe new life into Arthur Miller’s American classic ‘Death of a Salesman’ on May 16 at the Everyman Palace in Cork.
As part of 2013’s ‘The Gathering’, the prolific actor Patrick Cronin returns to his Irish roots in Cork to star on stage for the first time in his homeland alongside an outstanding cast of established and emerging Irish theatre artists. Jean van Sinderen-Law, Director of Development at UCC, will play protagonist Willie Loman’s wife, Linda. Fittingly, the role of Biff, Willie Loman’s son, will be played by James Cronin (and also by Charlie Kelly), Patrick’s real-life son, who is also an actor in New York.
The parallels of the struggles Miller penned in 1949 are eerily similar to those we face in 2013. Economic downturn, the struggle to make ends meet, ambitions quashed by realities.
Directed by Aleksandar Sasha Dundjerovic, head of Drama and Theatre Studies at UCC and of Kolectiv Theatre Company, the production will bring audiences on a journey that will be both heart-warming and heart breaking in equal measure:
“Death of A Salesman has a particular resonance post Celtic Tiger Ireland. The play focuses on the collapse of the American Dream, where no matter how hard you work or believe in the dream, you may still find yourself out of work. However there is great hope in this play, as it also emphasises the power of family to overcome obstacles. For me this is a play about having to let go of the past in order to have a future”.
Patrick Cronin has been a working actor all of his adult life, appearing in over 150 professional plays and 200 film and TV shows including Seinfeld, Hill Street Blues, Cheers, Star Trek the Next Generation, Wonder Years, The Magnificent Seven and many more. He has also appeared in the films Rocky V, My Blue Heaven and Splash. Patrick will spend several months in Ireland, during which time he will also help forge stronger relationships between Cork, the birthplace of his father and Tennessee, where he now works as professor and head of theatre in the Department of Communication at East Tennessee State University.
Death of a Salesman was first performed in 1949, and went on to win the ‘New York Drama Critics Circle Award’, the ‘Tony Award’, and the ‘Pulitzer Prize’, the first play to ever win all three awards. Since then it has been performed in every corner of the globe, become a central part of the canon of world drama and influenced generations of playwrights with its brutal, probing portrait of everyman's psyche.
The play follows the life of the aging, down on-his-luck salesman Willy Loman as he struggles to deal with an ever-changing world. Despite years of tireless service he discovers he has become surplus to requirement, and as his employers loosen their ties, Willy is propelled towards a destructive cocktail of blind fantasy and failing dreams. The downfall of the Loman family and the pressures of living up to other people’s expectations are motifs that have made Arthur Miller’s seminal masterpiece a work that resonates with today’s society more than ever.
Drama and Theatre Studies at UCC are flagship programmes in Ireland for theatre education and performance practice research, creating contemporary and engaging interdisciplinary theatre. In addition, this production will showcase Kolectiv's trademark use of multimedia and cutting edge staging.
“This play provides great material for multimedia as a theatrical expression because it mixes past and present” said Aleksandar. “The first working title was In The Man’s Mind, and with its fragmented story structure I saw a great opportunity to use visual projections to theatrically represent the past playing alongside the present, which Miller very masterfully demonstrates thought his play”.
Postgraduate and undergraduate UCC students from across the College of Arts, Celtic Studies and Social Science at UCC are also taking part in this collaborative project:
- Video designer -Sara Wentworth (Digital Arts and Humanities)
- Sound designer - Neil Quigley (Music)
- Composer and violin performer Hollas Longton (Music)
- Actors Charlie Kelly, Ethan Dillon, Michelle Fox, Helen Reilly and Aidan Moriarty (Drama)
- Assistant light design Laura Murphy (Drama).
Other cast members include Donal McDonald, Ber Power, Anarosa DeEizaguirre Butler, Rachel O'Connell, Trevor Somers and Sebastian Thommen.
The production runs at the Everyman Palace Theatre, Cork from Thursday 16 – Sat 25 May, 8pm (excl Sat 18 & Sun 19)
To book tickets online, see http://everymanpalace.ticketsolve.com/