World Première of SALESMAN IN CHINA At the Stratford Festival

It's an exciting time in Stratford as a major artistic endeavour, Salesman in China, prepares to make its world première, with previews beginning on Saturday, August 3.

Leanna Brodie 白仁耐 and Jovanni Sy's 施崇梵 new play brings to life an ambitious and daring act of cultural cross-pollination: the 1983 Mandarin production of Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman in Beijing. The play, a Stratford Festival-Banff Centre co-commission, produced in association with Canada's National Arts Centre, is directed by Jovanni Sy 施崇梵 with Chinese translations by Fang Zhang. It will be presented in English and Mandarin with surtitles in both languages.

The production features two titans of the stage, Tom McCamus as Arthur Miller and Adrian Pang 彭耀順 as Ying Ruocheng, the historical figures whose diaries inspired the play.

In 1983, playwright Arthur Miller made history by travelling to China to direct a production of his classic play Death of a Salesman starring Ying Ruocheng. Working with the Beijing People's Art Theatre, Miller and his collaborators struggled to bridge the gap between languages, cultures and national identities for an audience long shut off from the West.

“I know the feeling of living between worlds and serving as a bridge between cultures,” says Sy, who is at the helm of the production, which features 22 actors, and is thrilled to bring “so much incredible Asian talent” to the Stratford stage.

Salesman in China features Jo Chim 詹翠珊 as Wu Shiliang, Phoebe Hu 胡馨勻 as Zhu Lin, Derek Kwan 關顯揚 as Cao Yu, Ying Qianli, Mo, Street Busker, Sarah Orenstein as Inge Morath and Agnes Tong 唐若馨 as Liu Jun, Qiu with George Chiang 江重仁 as Zhu Xu, Harriet Chung 鍾浩賢 as Auntie Zhao, Hui Li, Howard Dai 戴中豪 as Ding, Policeman, Justin Eddy as Chinese Opera Performer, Theatre Patron, Tai Wei Foo 符岱微 as Chinese Opera Performer, Theatre Patron, 郝邦宇 Steven Hao as Li Shilong, Kim Horsman as Understudy, Ziye Hu as Guan, Nestor Lozano Jr. as Chinese Opera Performer, Gordon S. Miller as Anthony Calderon, Matthew Wang as Ying Da, Nick Fangzheng Wang 王方正 as Understudy, Asher Albert Waxman as Ying Da, Angus Yam 任孝聰 as Mi Tiezeng, Red Guard, and Harmony Yen as Shen Huihui, Red Guard.

The creative team includes Set Designer Joanna Yu 余頌恩, Costume Designer Ming Wong 黄慧明, Lighting Designer Sophie Tang 汤语菲, Composer and Sound Designer Alessandro Juliani, Co-Projection Designers Caroline MacCaull and Sammy Chien (Chimerik 似不像), Co-Dramaturges Nina Lee Aquino and Bob White, Fight Director Anita Nittoly, and Movement Director Harriet Chung 鍾浩賢.

Salesman in China, which hits the stage on August 3, officially opens on August 23 and runs until October 26 at the Avon Theatre. Tickets are available at stratfordfestival.ca or by calling 1.800.567.1600.

The 2024 season also features Twelfth Night, Something Rotten!, Romeo and Juliet, London Assurance, La Cage aux Folles, Wendy and Peter Pan, Cymbeline, Hedda Gabler, The Diviners, The Goat or, Who is Sylvia? and Get That Hope. For more information, visit stratfordfestival.ca.

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