I saw Death of a Salesman UK Tour at Birmingham Rep and was left staggered

Hunched over, desperate and on the brink of getting the sack for being too old, life-long salesman Willy Loman screams at his big business boss for treating people like discarded orange peel. “A man is not a piece of fruit” hollers memorable David Hayman, playing Arthur Miller’s unforgettable creation Willy.

It’s one of many heart-wrenching moments in this new version of Death of a Salesman that I caught on its UK and Ireland tour at Birmingham Rep. It runs there until Saturday March 15 before moving on to Edinburgh Festival Theatre from March 19 to 22 and later Crewe, Cardiff, Southend, Dublin, Wycombe and Salford.

Actor Hayman is perfectly cast with a weathered look as the disillusioned, depressed salesman, struggling with family life, mental health and his finances. Willy’s wife Linda puts it down to “exhaustion”, but it goes deeper than that - a recognition that the American Dream isn’t a reality for all.

This new version by Trafalgar Theatre is a long one - just shy of three hours - that sometimes loses pace early on. Yet, there’s a fine cast that does justice to Miller’s work and the time allows for plenty of character development. By the interval, you feel you know this couple, their troubled sons Biff and Happy and neighbours, almost like family.

Award-winning playwright Miller, who won everything from a Pulitzer to Olivier, wrote Death of a Salesman over 75 years ago based on experiences in America’s Depression. I’d gone into this knowing that, yet it staggered me how utterly relevant it still seems.

Here we are now, in the next century, and those powerful lines about fruit, disrespect for struggling people, ageism and disappointment still resonate. This could be just as much about current jaded views - amid redundancies in the UK or Elon Musk’s DOGE team leading mass sackings stateside - as when it was written in 1949.

There’s simple staging with a few chairs and tables in front of a backdrop of a huge tree. Fellow actors and a few musicians sit on stage at the sides, watching on until it’s their turn, but it works really well.

The detail is in the people, the conversations and the clever choreography that sees Willy’s hallucinations overlap with the present in an easy to understand fashion. It’s obvious when he is drifting off to reminisce or to have chats with his long-dead brother, while those around him struggle to understand what is happening.

Director Andy Arnold allows the story and tension to build slowly and makes this as much about Willy’s son’s disillusion as the father’s. Daniel Cahill as Biff gives his anger more sentiment and gentleness than I’ve seen in other versions. Not so much hot-headed as brow-beaten. While Beth Marshall gives a strong, understated performance as anxious wife Linda.

It’s not all gloom and there are moments of light relief. They are still in a darkly comic kind of way, usually involving son Happy, played earnestly by Michael Wallace seen in recent Paramount+ TV romantic comedy The Road Trip. Even at one of the worst moments for Biff, there’s great comic timing by Charlene Boyd as a sassy woman in Boston.

Don’t expect to come away with a smile as this production brings a lump to the throat all too often. Hayman, who many will recognise from his many film and TV roles from Fisherman’s Friends to Chief Supt Michael Walker in Trial & Retribution, gives an exceptional performance as desperate Willy.

He’s so realistic that you want to wrap him in a warm hug and say ‘it’s going to be ok’. With haunting music at crucial points throughout, it all leads towards truly heart-breaking final scenes.

With enduring themes of dementia, depression and a fraught father and son relationships, it’s a sombre experience for a deadly serious and timeless play. For Death of a Salesman still packs a punch of emotion after all these years, and it’s worth every minute to be reminded of this very human story.

This memorable production gives you pure Miller and Willy Loman - and all those hard-hitting words to echo around your head.

Where to see the new Death of a Salesman show on tour

Tickets for all UK and Ireland tour dates start from £19.50 and are listed below. Age guidance for the show is aged 12+.

Birmingham Rep - 11 - 15 March

Edinburgh Festival Theatre - 19 - 22 March

Crewe Lyceum Theatre - 27 - 29 March

Cardiff New Theatre - 1 - 5 April

Southend Palace Theatre - 8 - 12 April

Dublin Gaiety Theatre - 15 - 19 April

Wycombe Swan Theatre - 22 - 26 April

Lowry Theatre, Salford - 29 April - 3 May