Casting
- Miller’s descriptions of his characters are fairly precise. The first character is Alfieri, a man who represents both sides of his community, both sides of the Atlantic, both sides of the law. He is
a lawyer in his fifties turning gray; he is portly, good-humoured, and thoughtful.
The hair which is turning grey is important, as it shows that Alfieri is heading from youth towards old age – he is in the middle, just as he is half-Italian, half-American now. Everything to do with Alfieri is to do with halves. The fact that he is portlyHeavy and of ample build is also relevant. He used to be poor, but since he came to America, studied and became a lawyer, he has become prosperoussuccessful, financially well off and can obviously afford to eat well. So Alfieri’s physical appearance says a lot about him to the audience. - The physical description of Eddie is not quite as detailed. Miller says:
He is forty – a husky, slightly overweight longshoreman.
The words portly, used to describe Alfieri, and overweight, used to describe Eddie, have slightly different connotations. Portly suggests a certain elegance, whereas overweight could suggest lack of physical fitness. However, there are far more stage directions which refer to the expression Eddie has on his face, or about his body language, in the play. For example, he isstrangely nervous
when Catherine says she will be working at a big company. When Beatrice tells him not to be so protective of Catherine, the stage directions say he isinsulted.
A bit later on, he talks to Catherinewith a sense of her childhood, her babyhood, and the years.
Again, once he has agreed to Catherine taking the job, the direction says;a powerful emotion is upon him, a childish one and a knowing fear, and the tears show in his eyes – and they are shy before the avowal.
The actor who plays Eddie has a huge store of instructions to help him play the part. - The director is given more freedom when casting Beatrice, because there is no physical description of her. Instead, there are many references to the way she should stand or position her hands. On her first entrance she is described as having
her hands clasped at her breast.
This echoes images of the Virgin Mary and also links to several saints called Beatrice, one of whom had her heart pierced by Jesus. Just after this sheseems half in fear, half in unutterable joy.
When she is joking about spiders, the direction says that Beatrice looks at Catherine,rolling her eyes upward.
Therefore, the actor playing Beatrice is aware that she must convey a lot of emotion with her facial and bodily mannerisms, not just through her dialogue. Beatrice gives the impression of being quite dowdyCarelessly and shabbily dressed, not bothering to make the best of her looks or appearance for most of the play, although when she is preparing to go to Catherine’s wedding, the stage directions say:She is in her best clothes, wearing a hat.
- In a similar way, Catherine is not really physically described in the stage directions, but instead through other characters’ words. When she is showing Eddie her new skirt and hairstyle, his words direct her actions:
Beautiful. Turn around, lemme see in the back. [She turns for him.]
The actor needs to convey an attractive, cared-for appearance, since there are several references to this. In addition, Catherine has to convey a vulnerability and innocence, such as when she is about to have sex for the first time with Rodolfo and says,Teach me... I don’t know anything, teach me.
This is accompanied by the stage direction,[She is weeping.]
At the end of the play she needs to be angry, shouting at Eddie,Who the hell do you think you are?
The actor therefore needs to show a variety of emotions. - Marco is described physically as
a square-built peasant of thirty-two, suspicious, tender, and quiet-voiced.
Later on, other characters call hima regular bull
,a strong guy
, anda regular slave.
The effect of all this is to build Marco in the audience’s minds as a force to be reckoned with; however, slightly mysterious because he is so quiet. When he comes up against Eddie there is no doubt that he is dangerous. - Of course, Rodolfo’s appearance is extremely important to the action in the play. Eddie is obsessed with his hair colour and constantly refers to Rodolfo’s effeminate looks and ways. Therefore it is quite intriguing that Miller does not describe him as he does Marco. Instead, it is the words of the other characters which build the picture of Rodolfo. He is
practically blond
in Catherine’s words. He says of himself,I have a nice face, but no money.
He laughs a lot, which makes him a likeable character, but he is not only a joker – we do see a serious side to him. After he has slept with Catherine, he looks at Eddietestingly
as he comes out of the bedroom. Through this stage direction, we see that he is serious about Catherine and now regards her as his own. The actor playing Rodolfo, therefore, needs to convey a range of personality aspects.