From the moment Anthony Sher's Willy Loman staggers through the audience toward Stephen Brimstone Lewis's cityscape, struggling with his battered suitcases, you are aware something special is about to happen. Sher, noted for his definitive Falstaff, and for his forthcoming Lear, pays tribute to Miller with his understanding of the doomed Loman. His blousy frame squeezed into a period suit exudes a truly weary air. This is a confused, twitchy Loman, with explosive outbursts of frustration, followed by the smarm that is a vestige of his door-step trade. His smile is perhaps cynical at the realization that his life's work has come to little, yet able to switch to a glint of rejuvenation when he remembers how it used to be. These subtle switches highlight Sher's understanding of the sense of loss among the Lomans and their faulty understanding of the American Dream.The director, Gregory Doran, has produced a wonderful revival, evoking the postwar era with an interlude of jazz, together with Brimstone Lewis's set, which embraces the multiple locations and time zones endemic to the play. The Lomans live in their original wooden house, now overshadowed by modern high-rise buildings. Miller, however, called for “the leaves to return” each time the play shifts to one of Willy's “memories.” By constructing the high-rise buildings with semitransparent materials, which suddenly become bathed in sunlight and leaves, Lewis brilliantly conveys this change in mood.The secret of the success of this performance is that there is no weakness in the cast. It would be easy to be blinded by Sher's towering performance, but Harriet Walter's Linda is the epitome of Miller's women of that period: supportive, care-worn, and knowing, gently directing the inflammatory outbursts of Willy toward the truth, and delivering the hammer blow of truth to Hap about his womanizing. Her exchanges with Biff when he nearly exposes the “other woman” are almost too painful to watch.Alex Hassell's portrayal of Biff is outstanding. Not overshadowed by his illustrious colleagues, he more than equals their force; indeed, he and Willy/Sher seem to almost flay each other in their father/son rivalry. One wonders how close Biff comes to exposing Willy's infidelity when “spite” is spit into his face; but the time bomb he holds, ironically his escape route, cannot be taken. Hassell simply absorbs all the punishment from both Linda and Willy, teetering with tears of frustration. He knows Willy is redundant both actually and in his thinking; he really does just want to return to the cattle farm. Throughout the verbal violence of these exchanges, Hassel never falters in his delivery. Both Hassell and Sam Marks, who plays Hap as a preening lightweight, capture the transition from energetic youngsters to older and more confused adults.Sarah Park's “Woman” is also integral to Biff's performance. Her complete indiscretion in the Boston bedroom, her blundering into Biff's life to completely shred his innocence and respect for his father is agonizing to observe. Park's cameo reverberates throughout the rest of Hassell's wonderful performance. Brodie Ross's Bernard is finely drawn, moving from a sycophant of Biff to the modest yet very successful lawyer heading off to the Hamptons. The calm and respectable solidity of Ross's portrayal contrasts nicely against the blasé lack of direction of both Biff and Hap, and the uncontrolled fluctuations in Willy's understanding.This Willy is unrecoverable, and Sher seems to understand the acceleration in his demise and his utter inability to make it happen any other way. He is brutal in his exchanges with Charlie, whose sensible advice he sorely needs. Willy's ingrained fascination with the totems of success and his belief in the American Dream are easily rekindled, particularly by Guy Paul's Ben. In an innovative scene, Ben enters through the audience, dressed totally in white. This smart suit expresses his success, but also his ghostly influence, as he leads Willy to think about his life insurance money as a final solution.So, we arrive at the final departure scene. Walter's Linda is poignant in her final goodbye as she tells the departed Willy, “I made the last payment on the house today…. We're free and clear.” Hap expresses his grief through wishing to make it in the city as some sort of testimony to Willy. Biff is quite clear with his rejection, “He had the wrong dreams. All, all wrong.” But perhaps Charlie has the epitaph most suited to Willy when gently chastising Biff he says: “Nobody dast blame this man. A salesman has got to dream, boy. It comes with territory.”