Toronto Premiere

Salesman in China comes to the Mirvish for its Toronto Premiere! A new play by Leanna Brodie and Jovanni Sy, the piece is inspired by the memoirs of Death of a Salesman writer Arthur Miller and the renowned Chinese actor Ying Ruocheng, dramatizing a pivotal moment of artistic exchange between East and West. Directed by Sy and performed in both English and Mandarin with projected surtitles, language itself is an active theatrical element in the play, highlighting the obstacles that must be crossed for culture and artistic intent to be shared.

What is the story?

Set in Beijing in the early 1980s, this play-within-a-play follows the rehearsal process for a landmark Chinese production of Death of a Salesman, which is to be directed by Miller himself and will star the legendary Ying Ruocheng as Willy Loman. The play is seen as an important moment for the improving relations between America and China, but when Miller is introduced to the cast following their first read through, a prescient question quickly emerges: how on earth can a distinctly American story resonate in a society with different social structures, economic realities and cultural reference points?