Past Reviews

Regional Reviews: Washington, D.C.

The Price
Olney Theatre Center

Also see Susan's review of Zombie: The American


Sean Haberle and Charlie Kevin
In honor of the 100th anniversary of Arthur Miller's birth, Olney Theatre Center in the Maryland suburbs of Washington has staged a solidly entertaining production of Miller's 1968 play The Price.

Director Michael Bloom and his four actors have done a straightforward job with Miller's examination of personal responsibility and the legacy of the Depression, but James Fouchard's scenic design is the most notable thing about the Olney production. The Mulitz-Gudelsky Theatre Lab has been reconfigured into a theater in the round, bringing the audience into the stuffy attic where Victor Franz (Charlie Kevin) has come to sort through and dispose of his family's stored belongings. Chairs hang from rafters and rolled-up rugs stand against the walls.

Victor and his brother Walter (Sean Haberle) were the sons of prosperous parents who lost almost everything in the stock market crash of 1929—as did Miller. Victor left college and became a New York police officer to support their father; Walter set off on his own and became a prominent doctor. At the time of the play, they have been estranged for 16 years, since their father's death, with anger and unspoken resentment on both sides.

Miller uses the situation—complicated by Victor's wife Esther (Valerie Leonard), exhausted and looking for more out of life, and the garrulous, elderly furniture appraiser Gregory Solomon (Conrad Feininger)—to discuss issues of taking care of oneself versus looking out for others, the bonds between husband and wife, between parent and child, between siblings, and among members of a society. And, since this is Miller, questions of self-delusion and self-martyrdom also come into play.

Bloom has crafted a fine rapport among the actors, but Feininger has the standout role and he makes the most of it with his wide, expressive face, his bald head and bushy eyebrows, and his ripe Yiddish accent. Kevin is appropriately forthright, Haberle has an easy surface charm and Leonard has her say in a thick New York accent.

Olney Theatre Center
The Price May 13th - June 21st
By Arthur Miller
Victor Franz: Charlie Kevin
Esther Franz: Valerie Leonard
Gregory Solomon: Conrad Feininger
Walter Franz: Sean Haberle
Directed by Michael Bloom
Mulitz-Gudelsky Theatre Lab, 2001 Olney-Sandy Spring Road
Olney, MD
Ticket Information: 301-924-3400 or www.olneytheatre.org


Photo: Stan Barouh