London Theatre News & Reviews

The Reviews are in for The Price

~ Buy Tickets for The Price ~

Arthur Miller’s searing family drama The Price comes to the Marylebone Theatre in a powerful new production with Olivier Award-nominated Jonathan Munby directing a stellar cast led by two-time Olivier Award-winning Henry Goodman (perhaps most recognisable for his memorable cameo role as the Ritz concierge in Notting Hill, or for playing the Avengers character Dr. List).

On the eve of selling their late father’s possessions, two estranged brothers meet in a cluttered New York attic for the first time in years. What begins as a simple transaction becomes a fierce emotional reckoning, as decades of resentment, sacrifice and buried truth erupt into the open.

The reviews are in:

"You may not have heard of this Arthur Miller play but it’s remarkable. With its take on family dynamics and money, The Price is far juicier than the playwright’s greatest hits — it will get you talking and laughing." ★★★★ (Sunday Times).

"This 1968 play by the great dramatist of the fractured American Dream isn’t one of Arthur Miller’s best. But The Price is compelling in its uncompromising cynicism, originally written as a rebuke to how Miller perceived the abstract, consequence-free tone of 1960s theatre. Even a lesser Miller is greater than most." ★★★ (Time Out).

"Henry Goodman is a phenomenon in this masterfully reborn Miller masterpiece. Humour, sharp wit and even sharper performances." ★★★★★ (The Telegraph).

"Goodman, a spry and springy 76, gives little sense of decrepitude but superbly captures the spirit of almost 90-year-old Jewish furniture dealer Solomon. It’s up there with his superb Shylock in the Merchant, Tevye in Fiddler and his Billy Flynn in Chicago in terms of immersion in the role." ★★★★ (The Standard).

"A tremendous cast lifts what might have been a formulaic drama into a compelling examination of contested memory." ★★★★ (The Guardian).

"It’s a slow-burning drama, but piercingly true in so many respects, not least in its analysis of the narratives we tell ourselves and the significance of what we most value." ★★★★ (Financial Times).

"Jon Bausor’s atmospheric set looks gorgeous: a shadowy attic built with sloping walls receding towards a distant vanishing point. Heavy beams cross overhead and every corner is packed with antiques, which glisten like buried treasures under Anna Watson’s rich lights, with silvery beams slipping in through skylights and onstage lamps barely dispelling the velvety darkness." ★★★★ (The Stage).

"At its heart, Miller returns to familiar territory – the burden of personal responsibility – but complicates it with a more unsettling idea about inheritance being not just our parents’ furniture, but their legacy too. The Price offers no easy answers, just a finely balanced reckoning. Whisper it, but this might be Arthur Miller’s greatest play." ★★★★ (Everything Theatre).

Overall: ★★★★

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