Henry Goodman on top form in classic Miller
Marylebone Theatre
The small, four-year-old Marylebone Theatre has scored a coup by attracting Henry Goodman to play Gregory Solomon in Arthur Miller’s The Price. All the critics agreed that, despite him only featuring significantly in the first half, he gave a show-dominating performance (‘a riveting performance’ The Stage). Which was a shame, in a way, because the actual star of the play is Elliot Cowan (‘a towering performance’ WhatsOnStage) who, along with John Hopkins as his brother and Faye Castelow as his wife, received high praise, just not as much as Goodman.
Solomon is an 89 year old thinking about purchasing the brothers’ late father’s furniture and possessions, while the middle-aged brothers assess the course of their lives, the choices made, the prices paid. There was a general feeling that this late play deserves to be higher up in the Miller canon (‘one of his masterpieces’ Telegraph), although there were dissenting voices (‘a sense of drag’ Time Out).
Jonathan Munby directs with a naturalistic set full of dusty junk (‘exquisitely cluttered’ WhatsOnStage) provided by Jon Bausor.
[Links to full reviews are included but a number are behind paywalls and therefore may not be accessible]
5 stars ★★★★★
The Telegraph’s Dominic Cavendish loved it: ‘The Price is now rightly regarded as one of his masterpieces, bang on the money about how our lives are shaped and how we take stock of them.’ Henry Goodman’s character, he said, ’embodies the play’s ingenious combination of flip dime-store comedy and unalloyed pathos. Those tonal fluctuations align with Miller’s interest in how the price of an object varies depending on context, and how the value of an endeavour can be subject to shifting interpretations over time.’ About Goodman, he said: ‘ “In brief, a phenomenon” Miller’s stage-note reads; he is.’
4 stars ★★★★
’the stifling weight of familial responsibility is slow-burning and powerful’ said Dave Fargnoli in his review for The Stage. He continued: ‘The playwright touches on themes of self-deception, competition and the ways in which a simplistic, money-centric view of success forces people into living lives of unfulfilling drudgery.’ He pointed out: ‘Director Jonathan Munby establishes a measured, never overly pensive rhythm, giving each taut conversation room to breathe, while ensuring the pace and the building tension don’t slacken.’ ‘Henry Goodman gives a riveting performance as mercurial octogenarian raconteur Solomon’.
Henry Goodman also attracted The Standard’s Nick Curtis’s attention. He said he ‘superbly captures Solomon’s spirit. It’s up there with his superb Shylock in the Merchant, Tevye in Fiddler and his Billy Flynn in Chicago in terms of immersion in the role.’ He lavished praise on much of the production and was impressed by the way ‘Miller springs constant surprises. The play shouldn’t work as well as it does given the way he engineers the shift in tone around the interval, but the lulling, luring early humour sets us up perfectly for the coming sucker punch.’
Alun Hood for WhatsOnStage also wrote a tribute to Goodman: ‘It’s a stupendous, magnetic performance, one foot in the schtick of Jewish vaudeville turns and the other in the hardbitten realities of a man who has had to fight for everything he has. This is a masterclass’. He had plenty of praise too for Elliot Cowan: ‘Cowan gives a towering performance in his own right, his face clenched, body language defeated, his voice a muted growl, and his eyes kind but desperately sad. He inhabits this living embodiment of the adage that good guys come last to such an extent that his emotional breakdown, when it comes, is really tough to watch, yet you can’t look away.’
The Guardian’s Arifa Akbar talked about the play: ‘Through (the brothers‘) clashing memories, Miller captures the way in which the past is always contested within families, and between siblings. Miller makes you feel for them both, but also see how a life of illusion and wilful self-deception might be a choice. It is powerful, winding drama. You end up wondering why this angry, plaintive and deeply psychological play is not more often revived.’
The Sunday Times’ Dominic Maxwell explained : ‘really it’s the men’s story. As the workaholic Walter, Hopkins emits a George Clooney-ish urbanity that beguiles and repels. As the furrowed Victor, Cowan shows a decent man who goes all the way from cynicism to gullibility. The emotional acuity of their unpredictable debating is thrilling.’ He ended with his thoughts about Goodman: ‘ Whether venting big ideas about how we live or unexpectedly peeling a boiled egg, Goodman’s capering interloper embodies this rich story’s gorgeous contradictions. Bravo.’
3 stars ★★★
Tom Wicker for Time Out had reservations about the play: ‘While it’s thrilling to see talented actors really knock chunks out of each other, with Munby excavating every ounce of pain from their performances, a sense of drag also begins to set in, as Miller circles the same arguments.’ Nevertheless he decided: ‘there’s some seriously meaty material here about how we take ownership of our lives when value is relative. Even a lesser Miller is greater than most.’
Critics’ average rating 4.0★
The Price can be seen at Marylebone Theatre until 7 June 2026. Buy tickets directly from marylebonetheatre.com
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