Death of a (German) Salesman

By Jasmina Baghdadi, Leona Flach, and Maike Niehues

Adaptation:

Linda is cleaning the kitchen while Wilhelm is drinking coffee and reading the Berliner Morgenpost. There is a fridge and a washing machine at the back of the stage. Just above the washing machine there is a shelf with trophies of K.O.'s soccer tournaments. The lighting centers on the trophies. Linda is cleaning one of the trophies.

LINDA: Every time I see the trophy it reminds me of the success K.O. had in soccer.
WILHELM (staring at the trophy): If only he had done that one penalty shot in this game... Everybody used to wave at him when he entered the field.

The light changes colors. It turns yellow and orange and focuses on the kitchen table. Beethoven's fifth symphony is heard. K.O., Harald and Bernard enter the kitchen through the wall talking loudly and excitedly. Harald and Bernard are arguing.

BERNARD: K.O., I'm carrying your soccer shoes, ain't I?
HARALD: No, I'm carrying them. I'm your brother, K.O.!
K.O.: Bernard, you can carry my water bottle.
YOUNGER WILHELM: You're comin' home this afternoon captain of the Junior Hertha BSC soccer team. There're gonna be talent scouts of the Sporthochschule Cologne, you know! One day you're gonna be a well-known and liked soccer player.
K.O.: I got it, pop. Every muscles's ready. When I take of my shirt this goal's for your.
YOUNGER WILHELM: When this game is over, Harald, you'll be so proud of your brother. They'll be calling him another Otto Rehhagel. A million a year!

The light centers on the trophies again. Meanwhile, Linda is doing laundry.

WILHELM (dreaming): If only he had done that one penalty shot...
LINDA (more or less talking to herself): It must have been so disappointing for him so that he didn't even bother to graduate. If he would have gotten his Abitur he could have gone off to university. Why did he not finish summer class in the first place?
WILHELM (annoyed): What do I know? Would you just let me finish my coffee, please?

Linda is putting Wilhelm's coat in the washing machine checking the pockets beforehand.

LINDA (holding up a leopard print thong): What's this? It's not mine!

The light turns into red focusing on the front stage. The Loman's house is left in darkness. Wilhelm unbuttoning his shirt walks to the front of the stage joining the Woman who entered through the wall. They meet in a hotel room in Bonn. Mozart's “The piano sonata number 16” in C-major is heard. The Woman is laughing. She is in a black slip; he is buttoning his shirt.

YOUNGER WILHELM: Will you stop laughing? Will you stop?

K.O. is knocking on an imagined door. The knock is heard.

THE WOMAN: Aren't you going to answer the door.
YOUNGER WILHELM: I'm not expecting anybody.
THE WOMAN: But I felt the knocking. And he heard us talking in here. Maybe the hotel's on fire!
YOUNGER WILHELM (stressed): All right, stay in the bathroom here, and don't come out. It may be the new room clerk. So don't come out.

The Woman goes into the bathroom. Wilhelm walks to the imagined door and opens it. The light follows him. K.O. enters the room carrying a suitcase. The music is gone.

WILHELM: What are you doing in Bonn, K.O.?
K.O.: I called you. Dad – I let you down.
WILHELM: What do you mean?
K.O.: Dad...
WILHELM: K.O., what's this about? (Putting his arm around K.O.) Come on, let's go downstairs and get you a malted.
K.O.: I haven't got enough credits to graduate. I only got four points. You gotta talk to my teacher before they close school. Because if he saw the kind of man you are, and you just talked to him in your way, I'm sure he'd come through for me. He'd like you, Pop.
WILHELM: You're on. We'll drive right back. Let's hurry downstairs and -

A loud noise coming from the bathroom is heard.

K.O.: Is somebody in there?

The Woman enters laughing. K.O. stares at her open-mouthed.

THE WOMAN: Where're the panties you promised me, Wilhelm?
WILHELM: For God's sake, will you get outa here?
K.O. (reproachfully): Didn't you buy some for mom? She always said she wanted some.
WILHELM: Now look, K.O., when you grow up you'll understand about these things. You mustn't overemphasize something like this. Let's go see your teacher.
K.O.: Never mind! He wouldn't listen to you anyway.

The light focuses on the kitchen table. Wilhelm goes back to sit at the table. K.O. and the Woman leave the stage through the wall. Linda is still holding up the thong.

LINDA (loudly): Wilhelm, I'm talking to you! What's this?

Analysis:

In the play ”Death of a Salesman“ by Arthur Miller the contrast between success and failure is depicted. Themes are not only displayed through the achievement in the protagonist's job as a salesman but also in his family life. Willy Loman seeks success in every aspect of his life.

One reason why we choose the football game scene and the affair scene is because of the stark contrast of success and failure. Moreover, they demonstrate the disconnection between the father and his son Biff. The football game scene introduces the audience to a harmonic family life where Biff admirers his father eminently and vice versa. In contrast, the affair scene highlights how the relationship between father and son breaks apart demonstrating failure with regard to relationships between father and son and between father and mother as well as the failure of material achievements and social recognition.

In our scene we decided to rename the characters in order to fit it for a German audience. Willy and Harold receive their German counterpart names Wilhelm and Harald respectively while Linda and Bernard stay the same as these are also common German names. With Biff's name we were a bit more creative. To biff is another verb for to box. As we associated K.O. (knock out) with boxing we decided to choose this as his short name. However, it actually stands for Kurt Oskar which we would have explained if we would have had written the full play.

In order to make it easy to understand we have decided to analyze our scene chronologically. We split our scene into five parts where the first one is a conversation between Linda and Willy leading to Willy's memory of Biff's soccer career. The audience is then led back to the present where Linda finds a thong not belonging to her. This introduces another of Willy's flashbacks. Following this Willy is drawn back into the present by Linda's accuses.

In our first part we have included the Berliner Morgenpost in order to indicate the city the Lomans live in. As Willy sees success as one of the most important aspects in life we have decided to place the trophies in the kitchen which are representative of success. Furthermore, we have changed football into soccer as soccer is the most popular sport activity in Germany. We copied Miller's idea of highlighting important occurrences by lighting the trophies.

We have intensified the lighting in the second part by changing the color into yellow and orange in order to underline the glory of the soccer game. Moreover, we changed the lighting suggesting Willy's flashbacks. As the flute is always emphasizing these flashbacks we decided to copy this. However, we used Beethoven's music instead; so, it fits the German audience better. In the fourth part we used Mozart as to keep up the variety of German composers. Furthermore, we copied the idea of walking through walls which Miller had. In the play Happy and Bernard want to carry the helmet and the shoulder guards. We changed this into soccer shoes and water bottle due to the fact that Biff is playing soccer. In Germany schools do not pay as much attention to sport activities as American schools do which is why Biff is captain of a local soccer club. It is also less common that students receive sport scholar ships. Thus, we introduced talent scouts of the Sporthochschule Cologne instead. In “Death of a Salesman” Willy always refers to the idea of being well-known and liked which we have copied in this part (“well-known and liked soccer player”). Instead of taking his helmet off in our scene Biff takes off his shirt as this is also common amongst soccer players in Germany. One of the most famous German soccer players is Otto Rehagel which we used instead of Red Grange. Soccer players usually earn more than twenty-five thousand a year. Therefore, we used a million Euros.

In the following part Willy repeats what he said before. This clarifies to the audience that we are shifting back to the present. The novel suggests that Biff loses his success due to a failed touchdown which we turned into a penalty shot. We also decided to let him fail the Abitur instead of failing Math in order to make it suitable for a German audience.

The thong reminds Willy of the past which is why we introduced another flashback. This is also highlighted by a change in lighting. Lights are in red; on the one hand, in order to indicate love and on the other hand, it suggests a warning signal. Just as in the play we also decided to let the affair scene happen in front of the stage. We also referred to the German history by introducing Bonn and Berlin as the “two” capitals of Germany. Furthermore, we introduced an imagined door as a real cannot suddenly appear on stage. We used panties instead of stockings to make it more modern. Due to word limitation we shortened the scene.

Again we are shifting back to the present introduced by lighting and the repetition of the last sentence said in the present. As Linda still finds thongs in the laundry it suggests that Willy is still having affairs. This is also more suitable for today’s life as having only one affair is less common.

We decided to let Linda discover the affair.

In conclusion, our scene depicts the themes of failure and success, which are also shown in the play “Death of a Salesman”. Renaming characters and changing the American characteristics in the play such as football into soccer makes the scene more suitable for a German audience. Moreover, we updated the play by introducing panties and thongs instead of stockings.