Death of a Salesman

Thanks to our parents, who took care of the girls, on 10th of March, just the two of us (me and Adrian) headed toward Bucharest to fulfill our goal, set for last year: see Victor Rebengiuc, live, playing in "Death of a salesman", by Arthur Miller.


(view from our Ibis hotel room: the neglected back of Parliament House)

WILLY:  Figure  it  out.  Work  a  lifetime  to  pay  off  a  house.  You finally own it, and there’s nobody to live in it.

(Bulandra Theatre; Liviu Ciulei Hall)

WILLY: The way they boxed us in here. Bricks and windows, windows and bricks.
LINDA: We should’ve bought the land next door.
WILLY: The street is lined with cars. There’s not a breath of fresh air in the neighborhood.  The grass  don’t  grow  any  more,  you can’t raise a carrot in the back yard. They should’ve had a law
against apartment houses. (...)  They  massacred  the  neighbourhood.  (Lost.)  More  and more I think of those days, Linda. This time of year it was lilac and  wisteria.  And  then  the  peonies  would  come  out,  and  the daffodils.
(...)
LINDA: Well, after all, people had to move somewhere. 
WILLY: No, there’s more people now. 
LINDA: I don’t think there’s more people. I think
WILLY: There’s more people! That’s what’s ruining this country! Population  is  getting  out  of  control.  The  competition  is  maddening!

...

BIFF: (...) To suffer fifty weeks of the year for the sake of a two-week  vacation,  when  all  you  really  desire  is  to  be  outdoors, with your shirt off. And always to have to get ahead of the next fella.


(I have spent half of the show's time to get good pictures on my camera, without using the flash. Unfortunatelly, as you can see, my effort was pretty much in vain. I was so excited about the show, that, if Adrian wasn't around to calm me down, I would have used the flash without even noticed that nobody else was doing this.)

LINDA: Biff, a man is not a bird, to come and go with the springtime.
BIFF: Your hair... (He touches her hair.) Your hair got so gray.
LINDA:  Oh,  it’s  been  gray  since  you  were  in  high  school.  I  just stopped dyeing it, that’s all.
BIFF: Dye it again, will ya? I don’t want my pal looking old. (He smiles.)
LINDA: You’re such a boy! You think you can go away for a year and...  You’ve  got  to  get  it  into  your  head  now  that  one  day you’ll knock on this door and there’ll be strange people here...

...

LINDA: No, a lot of people think he’s lost his — balance. But you don’t have to be very smart to know what his trouble is. The man is exhausted.
HAPPY: Sure!
LINDA: A small man can be just as exhausted as a great man. He works for a company thirtysix years this March, opens up unheard-of territories to their trademark, and now in his old age they take his salary away. (...) When he brought them business, when he was young, they were glad to see him. But now  his  old  friends,  the  old  buyers  that  loved  him  so  and  always  found  some  order  to  hand  him  in  a  pinch  —  they’re  all dead, retired. (...) He drives seven hundred miles, and  when  he  gets  there  no  one  knows  him  any  more,  no  one welcomes him. And what goes through a man’s mind, driving seven hundred miles home without having earned a cent? Why shouldn’t he talk to himself? Why? When he has to go to Charley and borrow fifty dollars a week and pretend to me that it’s his pay?  (...) And you tell me he has no character?  The  man  who  never  worked  a  day  but  for  your  benefit? When does he get the medal for that?

...

WILLY (to Biff): Yeah. Knock him dead, boy. What’d you want to tell me? 
BIFF: Just take it easy, Pop. Good night. (He turns to go.) 
WILLY (unable to resist): And if anything falls off the desk while you’re talking to him — like a package or something — don’t you pick it up. They have office boys for that. 

...



WILLY: Your father came to me the day you were born and asked me  what  I  thought  of  the  name  of  Howard,  may  he  rest  in peace.
HOWARD: I appreciate that, Willy, but there just is no spot here for you. (...) (starting to go off): I’ve got to see some people, kid.
WILLY (stopping him). I’m talking about your father! There were promises made across this desk! You mustn’t tell me you’ve got people to see — I put thirty-four years into this firm, Howard, and  now  I  can’t  pay  my  insurance!  You  can’t  eat  the  orange and throw the peel away — a man is not a piece of fruit!

...

WILLY (with hatred, threateningly): The door of your life is wide open!
BIFF: Pop! I’m a dime a dozen, and so are you!
WILLY  (turning  on  him  now  in  an  uncontrolled  outburst):  I  am not a dime a dozen! I am Willy Loman, and you are Biff Loman!

...

This was time and money spent at their best, thanks to:

Mariana Mihuţ & Victor Rebengiuc (Linda & Willy Loman), who make a beautiful couple in real life too; and thanks to the other 8 actors who play together with them.

A wonderful drama on family, love, job, money.

I was very impressed to see that even after the show was over, the main actor wasn't able to get over his dramatic role, so he shared no smile at all with us!

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