We have detected that you are using an adblocking plugin in your browser.

The revenue we earn by the advertisements is used to manage this website. Please whitelist our website in your adblocking plugin.

SCRUTINY | Stratford’s Salesman In China Is An Instant Canadian Classic

By Paula Citron on October 9, 2024

L & R: Adrian Pang, Salesman in China. Stratford Festival 2024 (Photo: Ted Belton); Middle: Tom McCamus (left) and Derek Kwan, Salesman in China. Stratford Festival 2024 (Photo: Ted Belton) Photography by Ted Belton
L & R: Adrian Pang, Salesman in China. Stratford Festival 2024 (Photo: Ted Belton); Middle: Tom McCamus (left) and Derek Kwan, Salesman in China. Stratford Festival 2024 (Photo: Ted Belton) Photography by Ted Belton

Stratford Festival 2024/Salesman in China by Leanna Brodie and Jovanni Sy, directed by Jovanni Sy, Avon Theatre, closes Oct. 26. Tickets here.

At the end of Salesman in China, I was in a flood of tears, so I was very relieved to discover that others around me were in the same high emotional state. We were not, however, overcome because the play was overly sad or distressing. Rather, we were overwhelmed by the sheer power of art.

The world premiere of Salesman in China by Leanna Brodie and Jovanni Sy is, in a word, a triumph. It belongs in the pantheon of great Canadian plays. In fact, I would go so far as to say that Salesman in China is an instant Canadian classic.

The Story

Brodie and Sy based their fictional account on a famous real life 1983 incident when American playwright Arthur Miller travelled to Communist China to direct his famous 1949 play, Death of a Salesman.

Miller (Tom McCamus) and his Austrian/photographer wife, Inge Morath (Sarah Orenstein), have come to China at the invitation of Ying Ruocheng (Adrian Pang), a legendary actor at Beijing’s People’s Art Theatre, who has both translated the play into Mandarin, and who is playing the lead character, Willy Loman.

Ying believes that Chinese audiences will understand the humanity that is at the heart of the play, and which had inspired him to want to mount a production of Death of a Salesman in the first place. He also believes that China has to reach out to the rest of the world and end its isolation. After all, this is just a few short years after the terrors of the Cultural Revolution when intellectuals were sent to the rice fields, as was Ying for 13 years.

Nonetheless, there is a lot at stake here. All eyes are on this production because it represents a thawing of relations between the two countries, the United States and China, and as a result, the play has to be a success.

Adrian Pang 彭耀順 as Ying Ruocheng (centre) with members of the company in Salesman in China. Stratford Festival 2024 (Photo: David Hou)
Adrian Pang 彭耀順 as Ying Ruocheng (centre) with members of the company in Salesman in China. Stratford Festival 2024 (Photo: David Hou)

The Play

Brodie and Sy used as their main source material, Miller’s account of the project, Salesman in Beijing (1984), and Ying’s posthumous Voices Carry: Behind Bars and Backstage during China’s Revolution and Reform (2008). But rather than dry facts, they have infused their play with high drama and tension as cultures collide, particularly the testy interchanges between Ying and Miller about how to mount the production, with Ying being conciliatory and Miller showing a complete lack of compromise.

Perhaps the most fascinating part of the play are the questions that the Chinese actors and designers raise about the motivations of Miller’s characters and how they should be portrayed. This is where the humour comes in.

For example Zhu Lin (Phoebe Hu) who plays Willy’s wife Linda, doesn’t understand why she stays with Willy given all his faults. Or prudish Liu Jun (Agnes Tong) who balks at playing Willy’s Boston lover. Or Li Shilong (Steven Hao) as he tries to get a handle on Willy’s son Biff. Or the hilarious costumes and wigs that designers Hui Li (Harriet Chung) and Mo (Derek Kwan) devise as to what they think looks “American”, much to Miller’s horror.

There are also dream elements, as Ying remembers the trauma of his university professor father Ying Qianli (Kwan again), who escaped to Taiwan when the revolution began, and whose vision baits his son throughout the play.

Ying is also under enormous political pressure from Cao Yu (yet again Kwan), the artistic director of the Beijing’s People’s Art Theatre and the voice of government control, and from his own cautious yet critical wife Wu Shiliang (Jo Chim).

Performance

The passionate performance of Singapore/UK actor Pang as Ying is extraordinary. In fact, it is the stuff of legends. His emotional rollercoaster of a role anchors the play as he fights his demons, both real and imagined, particularly in the nail-biter ending. In short, Pang is simply magnificent.

For his part, McCamus as the crusty, acerbic and sarcastic Miller is an excellent foil to Ying. He is a bitter man who realizes his best plays were written 40 years ago. On the other hand, Orenstein as his long-suffering wife Inge tries to understand Chinese Society, and is excited about what she sees, while attempting to keep Miller under control. Orenstein’s even portrayal makes Inge the most sympathetic character in the play.

Members of the company in Salesman in China. Stratford Festival 2024 (Photo: David Hou)
Members of the company in Salesman in China. Stratford Festival 2024 (Photo: David Hou)

The Production

Salesman in China is a perfectly bilingual production that switches effortlessly between English and Mandarin (translation by Fang Zhang) via subtitles under the raised stage. Unfortunately, the rake of the Avon is not steep so many people, including me, had difficulty reading them. It might have been more prudent to project the text on side panels instead.

As well, while the program lists the actual Chinese names of the real people who participated in the 1983 production, it does not indicate which roles they are playing in Death of a Salesman, and it is a real puzzle to figure out who is who.

These two cavils aside, everything else about Salesman in China borders on perfection, including co-writer Sy’s smooth direction, Joanna Yu’s clever functional set, Ming Wong’s excellent costumes, Sophie Tang’s imaginative lighting, Alessandro Juliani’s evocative score, and the astute projections by Caroline MacCaull and Sammy Chien.

Kudos in particular to Sy for pulling together the strong cast and making sense of the complicated nature of the script.

Final Thoughts

In their playwright program notes, Brodie and Sy call their play a love letter to the theatre, and Salesman in China delivers that message with a mighty force. It is the very power of art that this play expresses, that brought me to tears.

Are you looking to promote an event? Have a news tip? Need to know the best events happening this weekend? Send us a note.

#LUDWIGVAN

Get the daily arts news straight to your inbox.

Sign up for the Ludwig Van Toronto e-Blast! — local classical music and opera news straight to your inbox HERE.

Paula Citron
Follow me
Share this article
lv_toronto_banner_high_590x300
comments powered by Disqus

FREE ARTS NEWS STRAIGHT TO YOUR INBOX, EVERY MONDAY BY 6 AM

company logo

Part of

Terms of Service & Privacy Policy
© 2025 | Executive Producer Moses Znaimer