The Arthur Miller Society Podcast: Recent Episodes
Ciarán Leinster
The Arthur Miller Society Podcast was set up in the summer of 2020 by Dr. Ciarán Leinster and Dr. Ambika Singh. Intended to be a resource for school teachers, academics, casual theatregoers, and everyone in between, we'll be featuring interviews with scholars and educators; discussions of Miller productions and Miller-related media; and tell some of the less well-known stories from the life of one of America's greatest writers.
For the first episode of 2022 Ciarán and Ambika speak to playwright Eleanor Burgess about her new play, Wife of a Salesman. Imagined as "Death of a Salesman without the male characters", Eleanor's new work is a really exciting examination of female gender roles, and how they have and haven't changed since the release of Miller's classic.
The conversation ranged from the glorification of nastiness in media to Eleanor's own shifting perceptions of Miller and his work, and is a really exciting way to kick off the podcast's third year.
Wife of a Salesmanruns from 3rd March to 3rd April at the Writers Theatre, Chicago. Find more information at their website here: https://www.writerstheatre.org/wife-of-a-salesman
Over the last six months Ciarán and Ambika have been busy correcting essays, finding new jobs, getting vaccinated, and trying to read Gravity's Rainbow, and suddenly all that time passed without a new episode!
To mark the beginning of the new semester, we spoke with Prof. Ann C Hall about the relationship between Arthur Miller and Harold Pinter. Two writers who are often seen as opposites (reserved and friendly vs. bombastic and passionate; realistic plays tinged with tragedy vs. silent, menacing Absurdist comedies) in fact shared a long and deep friendship, and vast mutual appreciation of the other's work.
Throughout we discuss the similarities in their work, the importance of their shared Jewish heritage, and, naturally, the time they were both removed from the US Ambassador's house in Turkey.
March is Women's History Month in the UK, the US, and Australia, and so we've dedicated this episode of the Arthur Miller Society Podcast to discussing Arthur Miller's female characters.
We spoke with senior Miller scholar Prof. Jane K. Dominik about what critics and scholars may have missed when discussing Miller's female characters, the impact of the women in his life on his writing, and the future possibilities when interpreting Miller's plays.
Miller generally focused on male protagonists in his plays, but with this conversation, we hope to complicate the traditional story somewhat - the power of early characters like Kate Keller and Linda Loman, the complexity of Lyman Felt's wives in The Ride Down Mount Morgan, and the care and empathy with which Sylvia Gellburg is treated in Broken Glass all get discussed in this episode.
To mark the 60th anniversary of the release of Arthur Miller's first screenplay, The Misfits, we spoke to Dr. Kate Egerton about the film, the short story it was based on, the stories around filming, and the influence it had on Miller's life and work.
Directed by John Huston, written by one of the world's foremost playwrights, and starring Marilyn Monroe, Clark Gable, Montgomery Clift, Eli Wallach, and Thelma Ritter, The Misfitswas dubbed "the ultimate motion picture" by producer Frank E. Taylor. With multiple personal problems, including various addictions and the dissolution of Miller and Monroe's marriage affecting filming, it wasn't the success many had hoped for. However, there are some fascinating things going on here, and the fact that Monroe and Gable died soon after filming finished means that it has a secure place in Hollywood history.
For the first episode of the New Year, we interviewed Geoff Elliott and Julia Rodriguez-Elliott, Producing Artistic Directors of A Noise Within, based in California. This week, they are performing a live read of Arthur Miller's 1968 play The Price, with a live talkback on Sunday evening. Details below.
We talked about the company's origins, their founding goals, the particulars of producing a play for a recorded reading, and why The Price strikes such a personal note for so many people. This was a really enjoyable conversation, and the warmth, passion, and optimism of Geoff and Julia was evident in everything they said.
https://www.anoisewithin.org/fall-2020-virtual-play-readings/
In the second episode of the Arthur Miller Society Podcast, I was joined by my co-host Dr. Ambika Singh from Jaipur, India.
We spoke with Prof. Jan Balakian of Kean University about her life in teaching. Prof. Balakian has taught for several decades, and been a prolific scholar, with works on Arthur Miller, Wendy Wasserstein, and Tennessee Williams. She also writes plays and screenplays. We talked about how she has adapted to teaching online, her published work on discussing Miller in the classroom, and much more.
We'll be taking a well-deserved break from Zoom over Christmas, but will be back in January with more regular content as we plan to take a deep dive into some of the less famous, but equally fascinating, elements of Miller's life.
For the first episode of the Arthur Miller Society Podcast, I was delighted to chat to American Drama scholar, ukulele player, and fan of Liverpool Football Club, Professor Sue Abbotson. Prof. Abbotson has published multiple books and articles on Arthur Miller, and during our conversation, we discussed the source of her interest in Miller's work, the signs of his Jewish heritage in his plays, Miller's relationships with Marilyn Monroe and Elia Kazan, and much more, including Prof. Abbotson's experience as an educator on Zoom.
With Ambika Singh to join me next time, I look forward to next month's episode.