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It’s Arthur Miller time for London theatre this year. ‘Death of a Salesman’ hits the Young Vic in May, a female-led ‘The Crucible’ is coming to The Yard in March, and the Old Vic is going for a double whammy with ‘The American Clock’ followed by ‘All My Sons’.
But first there’s this, a West End opening for a lesser-known slice of the Miller archive, inspired (like ‘The American Clock’) by the 1929 Wall Street Crash and the Great Depression.
NYC cop Victor Franz (Brendan Coyle) arrives at the brownstone apartment containing his now-dead parents’ furniture to sell it. Simon Higlett’s set design has the massive mound of chairs, bureaus, dressers, chairs, tables and more chairs climbing up the walls and exploding on to the ceiling, like the tornado from ‘The Wizard of Oz’ just hit.
Vic’s sale of the whole caboodle is interrupted by the surprise appearance of his brother Walter (Adrian Lukis). Unlike Vic who sacrificed his education to look after their ailing father, Walt escaped the gloom and became a wealthy surgeon.
On its premiere in 1968, ‘The Price’ was a bit of critical flop. This revival – a transfer from the Theatre Royal Bath – suggests it’s a genuinely good play, albeit not as good as Miller’s better-known output. It would take a brave soul to claim it’s in the same category as ‘The Crucible’.
But the play’s quality comes from its slippery, hard-to-read characters and, in this excellent production, the actors performing them. David Suchet is the standout, making Gregory Solomon, the 89-year-old antique appraiser, firstly eccentric, then quietly, watchfully wise.
As, in many respects, he should be. Miller’s naming of the Jewish Russian is likely a reference to the Old Testament king famed for wisdom. As war between the brothers kicks off, the old man implores peace. They shout, he goes quiet.
In general, the play is thought to be about decision-making, and the ‘price’ involved in self-sacrifice and self-advancement. That’s true, but it’s also about accepting those decisions, moving on and letting the past be the past.