REVIEW: Mockingbird triumphs in towering tragedy with heartbreaking “Salesman”
It’s easy to see why Arthur Miller’s “Death of a Salesman” has been considered a classic and one of American theater’s greatest plays now for 77 years.
Its themes are timeless and so relatable – identity through work, the American dream, ambition, marriage, love, parenthood, sibling rivalry, infidelity, regret, nostalgia, self-esteem, self-harm, truth and lies.
There is so much there both for creative artists and audiences to grapple with, and it’s truly a towering, tragic roller-coaster for us all to ride. In a new partnership between Black Hawk College and The Mockingbird, the current production is as memorable, thrilling and professional as one could hope for.
The outstanding theater company (founded in 2021 by Tristan Tapscott and Savannah Bay Strandin) has found new life at Black Hawk College, Moline, with “Death of a Salesman,” which is running through Aug. 29, at the theater (6600 34th Ave., Moline, Building 1, Room 308).
Jim Driscoll as Willy in “Death of a Salesman,” to be performed at 7:30 p.m. Aug. 20-22, and Aug. 27-29, at Black Hawk College, Moline.
This new collaboration brings together BHCs commitment to student opportunity and learning with The Mockingbird’s mission to create bold, meaningful storytelling rooted in both classic and contemporary works. The partnership will offer students, emerging artists and community members hands-on theatrical experiences both onstage and behind the scenes, while expanding access to live theatre in the Quad Cities region.
BHC and The Mockingbird previously collaborated on the mesmerizing “The Glass Menagerie” in July 2023 after the building The Mockingbird On Main was housed in collapsed in downtown Davenport, May 28, 2023.
Ben Gougeon as Biff in “Death of a Salesman.”
“Death of a Salesman” premiered on Broadway on Feb. 10, 1949, running for 742 performances. It is a two-act tragedy—the subtitle of the play is “Certain Private Conversations in Two Acts and a Requiem”—set in late 1940s Brooklyn and told through a montage of memories, dreams, and arguments of the protagonist Willy Loman, a traveling salesman who is despondent with his life and appears to be slipping into senility, according to a synopsis.
“Death of a Salesman” features (L-R) Jim Driscoll, Ben Gougeon, Jack Carslake, and Emmalee Hilburn.
It won the 1949 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and Tony Award for Best Play. Since its premiere, the play has been revived on Broadway five times, winning a to-this-day unprecedented four Tony Awards for Best Revival – including this year’s version that starred Nathan Lane and Laurie Metcalf.
Due to the title, you know Willy faces a bitter end, and the inexorably tragic tale seems like a sustained, anguished cry of pain, broken dreams and insurmountable odds, intermittently featuring flashes of hope, that accumulate to make the ultimate heartbreak even more gut-wrenching.
The new Mockingbird production – brilliantly directed and designed by Tapscott, with such compassion and attention to detail – stars James Driscoll as Willy Loman, Emmalee Hilburn as his wife Linda, and new Quad City Arts executive director Ben Gougeon as the older of their two sons, Biff.
Emmalee Hilburn, Jim Driscoll and Ben Gougeon in “Death of a Salesman,” directed by Tristan Tapscott.
This is Driscoll’s third time performing in “Salesman”; his second as Willy, after Richmond Hill Players in 2013, and he was Biff in Playcrafters in 2001 (when John VanDeWoestyne was Willy).
Now 62, he’s exactly the right age as the everyman Willy, exhausted and despondent at the story’s start, and we learn that he’s made previous attempts to end his life.
Sophia Kilburg and Jim Driscoll in “Death of a Salesman.”
Driscoll is laser-focused on this part, and his deep, rich, resonant voice and booming outbursts at Willy’s frequent flashes of anger make him a magnetic stage presence (as always). Driscoll also nails the dreamy poetry of Willy, as we tag along on his flights of fancy – Willy says he’s a New England man, which is fitting since Driscoll is actually from Rhode Island. I also love Tapscott’s occasional use of fluttering flute as soundtrack, which also fits the story.
Driscoll also played another iconic role for Mockingbird, in 2024, when Tapscott and his wife Savannah, co-directed him as the rock-solid lawyer Atticus Finch in Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird” (immortalized on screen by Gregory Peck). That was done at Moline’s Black Box Theatre.
Jim Driscoll plays the beaten-down title role in the Arthur Miller classic for the second time, after a 2013 Richmond Hill production.
At Black Hawk, one of the reasons “Salesman” is so good is that it’s so visually striking. Inspired by the line where Willy complains of being boxed in by the city’s bricks and windows, Tapscott has created a crumbling prison in a way, where the backdrop consists of a ramshackle collection of windows, some broken, and the amazing lighting design creates slats, shadows, and occasionally silhouettes of neighboring trees. Late in the play, the windows are lit from behind.
The action also is not limited to the BHC stage, since many entrances and exits are through the theater’s side doors, and a few times, Tapscott brings the actors even closer to the audience, between the first two rows and the rest of the house.
James Driscoll and Emmalee Hilburn play Willy and Linda Loman in the new Mockingbird production at Black Hawk College Aug. 20-29.
Of course, “Death of a Salesman” is far from a one-man show, and the Mockingbird has a consistently first-rate cast, from the biggest to smallest part. As Linda, Hillburn is the put-upon, supportive wife and mother, who acts as Willy’s best cheerleader and comforter, as well as mediator in the difficult, contentious relationship between Biff and Willy. Take note of not only Hillburn’s affectionate, giving portrayal, but the impact of her expressions when she’s not speaking – they say much of acting is in reacting, and she is an expert in that.
Gougeon is simply a revelation as the tortured Biff, a 34-year-old who is lost, single and looking for his place in the world. I knew he has an impressive acting resume, but besides his recent family film (as the one-note father) “Groundhog Gary,” I had never seen him on stage, and boy does he knock this part out of the park, with full-throated passion and commitment.
Ben Gougeon is Biff in the new production at Black Hawk, Moline.
Both Gougeon and Jack Carlslake (as younger Loman son Happy) basically have two parts here, as their current and younger selves, though Carslake is a high school senior in real life and a little too young to play the 30-something role here.
As Biff, Gougeon immediately draws us into his plight and the pressure of living up to Willy’s demanding ideals. He works on a ranch in Texas, and does not want to be a salesman like his father (though we never learn what Willy actually sells), after having rotated through over 20 jobs already. The tension and bickering between Driscoll and Gougeon are difficult and powerfully dramatic to watch, and the build-up to a fateful visit between a teenage Biff and Willy in a Boston hotel room is heartbreaking and shattering. The disappointing dinner (in the present) after both Willy and Biff suffer humiliations is also crushing.
Emmalee Hilburn as Linda Loman at Black Hawk College.
The only other actor from the 2013 RHP version of “Salesman” is Dana Moss-Petersen, who then was Biff, and here is Uncle Ben, Willy’s older brother, a ghost seen in flashbacks. He brings another commanding, confident presence, showing Willy a life he could have had, and their scenes together are tender and poignant.
The terrific cast here is rounded out by Sophia Kilburg, Renaud Haymon, Madalyn Shierloh, Marley Haley, Eric Teeter, and Morgan Wehling. Bring some Kleenex, tears are definitely jerked.
Admission to “Death of a Salesman” is by the flexible price structure of “Pay What It’s Worth,” to ensure affordability, especially for BHC students. Performances will continue at 7:30 pm, Thursday, Friday, and Satudray, Aug. 27-29.
From left, Jim Driscoll, Morgan Wehling,,Madalyn Shierloh, and Marley Haley.
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