Acting ‘Death Of A Salesman’ In Yiddish: ‘It’s A Jewish Play Written By A Jewish Playwright About His Jewish Relatives’

That’s the take of Avi Hoffman and Suzanne Toren, who play Willy and Linda Loman in the New Yiddish Rep’s production. “[Hoffman] hears Yiddish in the structure of Mr. Miller’s dialogue, as when Willy’s girlfriend asks when he’ll be back in town and he says, ‘Oh, two weeks about.’ Ditto Linda’s famously awkward immortal line, ‘Attention, attention must be finally paid to such a person.’ ‘Who talks like that?’ Mr. Hoffman asked, the question rhetorical. ‘That’s Yiddish.'”