Death of a Salesman

Fading salesman Willy Loman is an iconic role for older actors. And veteran performer Patrick Murphy, who “retired back home” to Sacramento about a year ago, gives a fine performance. Murphy shows us the tired, pathetic guy returning from a fruitless trip—but also locates small, positive traits that make Willy’s wife’s devotion to him credible. That, in turn, gives moral grounding to the wife’s lectures to her sons, begging them to help their faltering father. And morality is what Arthur Miller’s classic script, dating from 1949 but still intense, is all about. Director Dean Shellenberger brings this production to a powerful conclusion; the show also glows in the historic context of the Woodland Opera House, built in the 1890s.
Woodland Opera House, 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 2 p.m. Sundays, plus 2 p.m. Saturday, June 2; $10-$15. 340 2nd Street, Woodland; (530) 666-9617, www.wohtheatre.org. Through June 10.