According to the Finborough's publicity, when
Flowering Cherry premiered in
1957 it was called a British
Death of a Salesman, and there are certainly parallels
to be drawn. Robert Bolt's Willy Loman figure is Jim Cherry (Liam McKenna,) at one
time a travelling insurance salesman who, despite his dislike for the job and actual
undisguised contempt for the customers, was good enough at it to be promoted to
management. This office job hasn't been as much of a success though, and between
frustration and fear of being sacked, he starts to claim he's resigned. Always a
compulsive liar and a fantasist, he retreats into a long-held dream of selling up
and returning to his native Somerset to start an apple orchard. It's left to his
long-suffering wife Bel (Catherine Kanter) and their children to try and find the
truth in what he tells them, and figure out what kind of future they actually have.
