5 August 2006: Miller, The Price
Gloucester Stage, Gloucester, MassachusettsDirected by Harold Dixon, who also plays the role of Walter Franz
I have somehow managed never to see or read this play before — an important omission. Theatre programs tell you little or nothing about the play — the play is not what they are about — and I haven’t taken the opportunity to look to see when this play first appeared. But it is vintage Arthur Miller, about tension and jealousy in a family, between the younger and older brother. And, as in every Miller play, the chickens come home to roost (as Miller himself would put it).
Good performances all around, in a theatre that has been somewhat upgraded over the past few years: audience in an “L” around the stage at floor level. It’s the brain-child and love-child of Israel Horovitz, who has declared this his last season. Other forces are going to take over the company for next year. I’ve been going to Gloucester and Rockport for vacations for years, one of the attractions being Gloucester Stage; most of the time there is something that appeals during the week or weekend that I’m there — or I can even select a weekend that coincides with something I’d like to see. Horovitz is in some ways an unlikely visionary, but the theatre he founded some years ago has had a long life and is apparently strong on its feet.