Customer Reviews

The Price: A Play

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Victor Franz, who is negotiating the price of the contents of his family home with an appraiser, had no interest in claiming any of these objects when his father died sixteen years before, and his wife Esther has no interest in them now. Victor, however, has contacted his estranged brother Walter in a final effort to settle the estate. Though the appraiser drives a hard bargain, the reader realizes that the real price playwright Arthur Miller is discussing is not the value of the furnishings but the price each person must pay for not knowing or willfully ignoring the facts about issues affecting his life.

Victor and his brother Walter have been estranged for about twenty years, ever since Victor was forced to drop out of college, where he was a brilliant student studying science. It was the Depression, but Victor could have stayed in school if his brother Walter, already a doctor, had loaned him a mere five hundred dollars. Walter refused. Victor's college career ended, and he became a policeman, staying at home to care for his unemployed, ailing father for the rest of his life. Victor has never forgiven Walter for his betrayal of trust.

When Walter arrives to see Victor, the contrast between the brothers is obvious their in dress and attitude. Soon, however, the audience realizes that Victor does not have all the facts about Walter's refusal of the loan. Likewise, Walter does not realize the extremes to which Victor had to go--rummaging through the garbage to find food for the family--while Walter contributed only five dollars a month toward his father's support. The manipulations by the father also become obvious, and as Victor and Walter express their rage, the full picture of this pitifully dysfunctional and uncommunicative family is revealed.

The tensions and history between the brothers drive the action, with some comic relief coming from Gregory Solomon, the appraiser, who himself has had family issues resulting from lack of communication. Where this play is weak is in the crucial characterization of the two brothers. Walter, the successful doctor, is a stereotype who inspires no sympathy, and though the audience discovers mitigating information about Walter, it is not enough to make the audience change their minds about his essential character. Likewise, Victor, the policeman, is seen in new ways as a result of Walter's information, but that new information does not change the audience's opinion of Victor or lead us to see him in a different light. A fascinating study in family dynamics, with some surprises, this play lacks the dramatic personal changes and realizations by the main characters which we see in Miller's best plays. n Mary Whipple

I saw this play on June 14,2005 in a performance given by the Jerusalem English Speaking Theatre . The play was directed by Leah Stoller, and featured David Glickman, Gail Kirschner, Marvin Meital,and Arthur J. Fischer. The performance was excellent and Fischer was especially convincing as the policeman brother Victor Franz who sacrificed the education and career he might have had to care for his father and his own family.
The play tells the story of the selling off of the family furniture sixteen years after the pater familias has died. The policeman brother and his wife open the play speaking about their own life, its disappointments, their lack of money and status. Soon after they are joined by the appraiser Solomon a ninety year old Yiddish accented fighter for life who throughout the play laments the loss of his daughter. They speak about the 'price' which the appraiser will give for the old furniture. Later when they are joined by the second brother, the successful surgeon who ran away from family responsibility to make a career and who has a broken and difficult family of his own, they begin to speak about the real ' price' .And this is the price which is paid for making the decisions we make in life, choosing the path we choose, making or not making the sacrifices we make. One brother has chosen the path of family loyalty and sacrificed career and prestige. The second chose the opposite. The first resents this and in the second part of the play voices this resentment, as his brother tries to rationalize and justify his failure to truly help the family when they needed it.
Their dialogue is made in a simple colloquial language but as with the other work of Miller, this simple speech often contains profound reflections on life and its meaning.
And as a whole the work is sustained by this sense that it , as the life it depicts , is really about ' something'. It is not about nonsense and post- post- post disintegrations into fictional absurdities.
The play has a particularly strong closing , ironic and moving at once which I will not give away. My sense is that this closing must be ' seen and heard' and not just read if it is to be most effective.
Miller is a writer of our everyday life and dreams, of the most American kinds of struggles, disappointments and confusions.
He is also in the end a writer about life which truly ' means' something to those who live it.
This may not be his greatest work, but it is certainly a fine and memorable one.

This 1968 play from Miller is one of the author's better works in a career full of 'better works'.

While 'The Price' is definitely one of Miller's lesser known plays, there is certainly no reason for it to be so. It stands tall and ranks up with there with Miller's best, probably only being surpassed by a sparse number of his other works.

Many a synopsis can be found elsewhere on this page, so I'll skip that.
I will say that this play is a slow-burner. Miller takes his time establishing the characters, their relationships to each other and the world that they all inhabit. The writing throughout is simple yet elegant (though the dialogue at times is a bit outdated).

The core relationship between the two brothers has a great deal of depth and never strays from being completely and utterly real. Each of the brothers is tremendously well-written and well thought out. Miller never cheats in his writing of either of these two characters; each stays true to himself at all times and never acts out of character.

"The Price" is always sure of itself, its footing is always true and Miller always knows exactly where the play is going. The entire last third of the play is an absolute knockout as the steady, methodical pace that Miller has spent the beginning of the play cultivating, suddenly blows its top and the brothers really dive into the hearts and minds of each other.

Even the character of the appraiser, Solomon, whom at first seems like a boring, comedic stereotype, quickly reveals himself to be something deeper.

My only complaint about the play is that its sole female character, Esther, doesn't really need to be present. It can be argued that Solomon and her balance each other out, but I just don't think the supportive evidence is there. Esther could be removed and the play would essentially be the same. Her character just isn't needed and on top of that, she's easily the weakest written character in the play. I'm sure a talented actress could make her worthwhile and even heartbreaking in a way, but on the page she's just lifeless.

The construction of the play is tight and terrific, the character of Solomon is terrific and quite wise and funny (even in 2007) and the core relationship between Victor and Walter is absolutely explosive. This play should be read.

On the surface, the title of the play seems to be deducted from the value accessment of the main characters' late father's home. In reality, the theme is much deeper. Much like many of his other great works, Arthur Miller makes the reader take a disturbing look into the human mind.

While Walter was at medical school, Victor was caring for their sick father. Despite being the smarter of the two, Victor was never able to pursue a career in science in order that he would be able to care for his father. Victor and Water have not communicated in many years. Only through the Walter's unexpected appearace at the assessment of his father's house do the brother's speak. The initial conflict is centered on the low price Victor receives for the initial assessment and whether Walter should receive any of the money from the sale. The story evolves to reveal Victor's bitterness toward his brother. Similarly, Walter feels guilt for not contributing to his brother's education and not letting Victor know their father was not nearly as poor or sick as Victor believed.

The ultimate theme of the play is personal priorities. Walter placed the highest priority on his career. As a result, he had a nervous breakdown, was a poor parent, and had a failed marriage. Victor placed the highest priority on his family. First, he cared for his father which meant accepting a less challenging job as a police officer. However, Victor has a successful marriage and wonderful family.

Miller's work gives readers a unique perspective on life in America. This is certainly a great work which maintains his high writing standard.

In Arthur Miller's 1968 play THE PRICE, two brothers, Victor and Walter Franz, meet in their late father's house to dispose of his property. In the process, they confront old grudges, relieve guilt over past wrongs, and learn the difference between material success and spiritual fulfillment - all major themes in Miller's output as a whole. Symbolism, a technique seen in such previous Miller plays as ALL MY SONS and DEATH OF A SALESMAN, is very important in THE PRICE, as well: different objects in the Franz home represent different ideas. What is unusual for Miller is the inclusion of a comic relief character: the ancient dealer Gregory Solomon, who comes to set a price on the furniture. Wise Solomon's appearances provide highly amusing commentary on the essential conflict between the brothers. THE PRICE is a fascinating gem of a play that only seems more so with repeated readings.

This is an outstanding dramatic work that I think is underestimated. We often think of Death of A Salesman, The Crucible, or After the Fall when we think of Miller's plays. However, The Price is a surprizingly taunt, well written and penetrating work of art.

The plot is nicely situated in an old attic full of massive antiques from a once wealthy family - whose capital as well as the father's will to succeed are both destroyed in the depression. Two brothers meet after twenty years of silence of to finally settle the estate of the long deceased father. The elder, Walter, has become a nationally recognized medical specialist whereas his younger brother, Victor, has become a policeman, father, and the primary caretaker of their father. Sharp words are exchanged in an encounter that has been postponed for many years. The dialogue is superb, blunt, crisp, and powerful.

Two other figures in the play help move the drama forward. Victor's wife is willing to voice opinions that Victor suppresses. The elderly Gregory Solomon, the used furniture dealer, offers some dramatic relief.

In the end, the play is really not about the price of an attic full of used furniture. Rather, it is about the priorities that we all make in our lives. Sometimes the priorities are totally conscious and sometimes unconscious. These priorities then lead to choices. Sometimes the choices are active and sometimes they are the choices of passive default. Finally these priorities and the choices they engender lead to consequences. Again, some of these consequences are recognized and some remain hidden. In the final analysis, priorities that lead to choices that lead to consequences all have a price. This is a play about how two men reconcile the prices they have paid for the priorities they had in life. The term 'reconcile' may not be the best choice of words, for at then end of our adult life, who really feels reconciled with all their choices and the consequences?

In the final analysis, this is a beautiful exploration of those summative moments where we place meaning onto life and it all it entails or we fall into despair. It is time for a revival of this powerful play.

Miller's play surrounds the moral development of two brothers: one a dutiful policeman (Victor), the other a successful yet selfish surgeon (Walter). Their most recent encounter takes place during the sale of family furniture and heirlooms -- post a long and silent gap in their relationship catalyzed by an angry family breakup that completely separated the brothers.

During their encounter, Arthur Miller poignantly brings out each brother's personal ethics, and what moral debts each feels the other owes. The 'furniture' and it's price to be sold, which is their central concern (in addition to dealings with the only other two characters in the play - an appraiser (Solomon) and Victor's wife (Esther)) , is merely a bargaining object between the two - a prop - with which each may discover more fully the other's thoughts and ways of being, and somehow, at the end of the day, find some sort of salvation in each other.

Miller's play does have room for updating the "Say! What a swell..." type of older american-english diction for flow. This may be especially encouraging to those who may find some of the colloquialisms inappropriate.

The reader must keep in mind that this is not a novel, and really should not be read like one, word for word. This is more a basic screenplay type, where improvisation by actors who truly understand the characters - and Miller's intent - will ultimately bring the true and dramatic color to a wonderful and thought-provoking story.

Arthur Miller's "The Price" is as excellent as his View From the Bridge, All My Sons, and Death of a Salesman. And, I am quite positive it equals to what I have not read it yet, "The Crucible."

Estranged from his brother Walter for 16 years, 50 year old, policeman, Victor Franz is finally reunited because the need is to sell furnishings of their dead father. Victor is bitter over the choice he made in his youth to care for his father, who became one of millions of victims of the crash of 1929 and the Depression. Victor supported his father who was broke and shamed over the Depression. He became a policeman, instead of taking a career in science that he seemed primed for.

His brother Walter, however, made his choice in life to become a successful surgeon, and he has endured his share of life's problems, and some that only belong to the rich. The two brothers have kept away from each other because of their own guilt. Walter made his choice in life to be educated and knew that Victor was saddled with supporting the father thus, foregoing his career.

And very Milleresque, the plot thickens with an important twist.

The lengthy play could have been shortened, because the best dramatic dialogue doesn't happen until the end of the 2nd act. But to Arthur Miller, that's where his expertise comes in, engrossing you in small dialogue, building the character's past, ideals, morality, etc. and then, time to create those certain twists he is familiar for.

The successful four-character, two-act play first appeared on Broadway in 1968. Victor's wife, Esther, and the aging antique dealer, Solomon, have secondary roles. The setting is in the attic of a Manhattan brownstone in the present time, 1968. The building is to be demolished; therefore Victor called upon Solomon to give him a price for the furnishings. Victor repeatedly asks for a price, but the "price" metorphorically becomes the price you pay in life for choices you made. Excellent play!!.....Rizzo

I recommend highly Arthur Miller's:
All My Sons (Penguin Classics)
A View from the Bridge (Penguin Plays)

"The Price" is my favorite of all the plays I've read by Arthur Miller thus far. Within this drama, the characters are flawed, contradictory, disturbed, frustrated, in denial, good, and bad. Because I'm the same age as the protagonist / antagonist, Victor, I viscerally relate to the dilemma / mid-life crisis he's experiencing. Is it too late for that second chance--too late for Victor to actually make something of himself as he conceived when he was young and not so disillusioned? There's not much time left to act--the clock is ticking. The power struggle between the two brothers, Victor and Walter, manifests quite civilly--though the rage simmers, it is rarely violent. It could be said that Walter, the more "successful" of the two brothers, is also the more secure of the two. Walter has always known what he wanted and he goes for it; nothing stops him. Whereas Victor, being less sure, is propped up by the presence of his wife, Esther--who "thinks" for Victor. It's as if Esther functions as Victor's superego; perhaps Victor is not strong enough to face Walter on his own. Everything crystallizes in Act II (Walter appears at the end of Act I); in Act I, skeptical Victor is getting ripped off by Solomon, the appraiser. That transaction sums up the entire problem with Victor's life--he's a guy who's always settling, never risking for the potentially big payoff. On the other hand, possibly Solomon is doing Victor a favor, taking this junk furniture off his hands--maybe Solomon is relieving Victor of that chip on his shoulder he's been carrying around for all those years. In the final scene of Act II of "The Price", Solomon laughs hysterically and uncontrollably by himself, relieved of yet another day of insidious wheeling and dealing. Is he a madman? A saint? Or both? Postscriptum--Although the play is divided into two acts, in the Author's Production Note on the final page of this text, Miller writes that " ..... an unbroken performance is preferable".

Stephen C. Bird, author of "Hideous Exuberance: A Satire"

Ordered this script to prepare for an audition. It arrived quickly in perfect condition just as advertised. Included as a bonus was a promotional brochure from a theatrical book club dating from when the play was first published in the acting edition. Great pictures and excerpts from reviews of the first Broadway production. Fascinating! Very satisfied with this purchase! And oh yes, I got the part!!!