The Price

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"The Price is one of the most engrossing and entertaining plays that Miller has ever written." - The New Uork Times When patriarch of the Franz family dies, his two sons return home to dispose of the furniture crammed in his attic: one is a successful surgeon, the other gave up everything to support their father following the Great Depression. As the pair sort through these abandoned belongings, frustrations, secrets and surprise guests are uncovered. With its touching and farcical presentation of American life beyond the Vietnam War and Great Depression, The Price is widely recognised as one of Millers major works, earning him a Tony Award nomination in 1968. This Methuen Drama Student Edition is edited by Yuko Kurahashi, with commentary and notes that explore the play's production history (including excerpts from interviews with the director and designers of the 2017 Arena Stage production) as well as the dramatic, thematic and academic debates that surround it.

Reviews

One of Millers best plays: an exploration of our need for sustaining illusions because, as he himself wrote, the truth is too terrible to face ... But what finally makes the play moving is Millers honesty in recognising that we are all, to a large extent, the authors of our own lives. * Michael Billington, The Guardian *
The Price is one of the most engrossing and entertaining plays that Miller has ever written. It is superbly, even flamboyantly, theatrical ... and Miller holds the interest with the skill of a born story-teller. But, of course, the story itself is over. It is typical of Miller's approach here that nothing does, and nothing possibly could, happen in The Price. The action has ended before the play starts, and we the audience have been brought here to listen to the explanations, to comprehend how these men by the choices of their youth have come to be what they are. * Clive Barnes, The New York Times *

Author Bio

Yuko Kurahashi (volume editor) is Professor of Theatre in the School of Theatre and Dance at Kent State University, USA. Her areas of speciality include multicultural theatre, community-based theatre and intercultural theatre. She is author of Asian American Culture on Stage: The History of the East West Players (1999) and Multicultural Theatre (2004 and 2006). Arthur Miller (1915-2005) was arguably the greatest American playwright of the twentieth century. Hist most famous work for the stage includes Death of a Salesman, The Crucible, All My Sons and A View from the Bridge. Six volumes of his plays and a volume of his theatre essays are published by Methuen Drama. Susan C. W. Abbotson (series editor) is Professor of Dramatic Literature at Rhode Island College, USA.