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Death of a Salesman in Beijing By Arthur Miller Introduction by Claire Conceison, photographs by Inge Morath London: Bloomsbury Methuen Drama, 2015
The Collected Essays of Arthur Miller By Arthur Miller Introduction by Matthew Roudané London: Bloomsbury Methuen Drama, 2016
Editor's Note: The following review appeared in Studies in Theatre and Performance, 23 February 2016 (online), DOL10.1080/14682761.20176.1151201, pp. 198-200. It is reprinted with permission of Taylor & Francis Ltd.
The centennial of Arthur Miller's birth in New York City on 15 October 2015 is being celebrated around the globe with academic conferences, acclaimed revivals of his plays, and new criticism. Bloomsbury marks the occasion with two timely publications: Death of a Salesman in Beijing, a reissue of Miller's diary when directing his most famous play in China; and The Collected Essays of Arthur Miller, a new compilation of Miller's theater and non-theater essays.
Death of a Salesman in Beijing has three previous iterations: the original first published in 1984, a reprint in 1991, and a third edition in 2005 when Miller died. This new edition has been marketed to coincide with the centenary.
Death of a Salesman in Beijing was the unintended result of Arthur Miller directing his masterpiece in the Chinese capital in 1983. In his preface to the 1991 edition, Miller explains how the unusual rehearsal schedule of the Beijing People's Art Theatre-the company rehearsed only in the mornings and evenings-provided him a seven-hour break in the afternoons. During rehearsals, Miller had used a tape recorder to remember his comments to the Chinese-speaking actors and the English clarifications provided by the play's Chinese translator, Ying Roucheng, the actor who played Willy Loman and who also was the chief impetus in bringing Miller to China. Miller used the long afternoons to listen to and type up the day's proceedings and add commentary that would form the basis of the book.
Miller's directing of Salesman is considered a groundbreaking theatrical event in China that provoked discussion about the cultural, socioeconomic, and political similarities and differences between the People's Republic and the United States. The surprise of this reissue is that America's...