{"id":33642,"date":"2019-11-15T03:53:41","date_gmt":"2019-11-15T11:53:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/?p=33642"},"modified":"2019-11-13T22:41:14","modified_gmt":"2019-11-14T06:41:14","slug":"price-is-a-point-of-view","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/2019\/11\/15\/price-is-a-point-of-view\/","title":{"rendered":"Price is a point of view"},"content":{"rendered":"

Left to right, Patrick Bahrich, Sjahari Hollands and Christine Iannetta co-star, along with Rob Monk, in United Players\u2019 production of The Price<\/em> by Arthur Miller, which is at Jericho Arts Centre until Dec. 1. (photo by Nancy Caldwell)<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

United Players of Vancouver theatre company has a reputation for tackling challenging, thought-provoking material and, with its current production, The Price<\/em>, by Arthur Miller, it lives up to that reputation.<\/p>\n

Playing at Jericho Arts Centre until Dec. 1, The Price<\/em> is a densely packed play, covering several themes: sibling rivalry, self-perception, filial and spousal duty, memory, modernity, the Depression, materialism, success, failure, and more. In a play where dialogue is the main action, actors Patrick Bahrich, Sjahari Hollands, Christine Iannetta and Rob Monk do an adept job at keeping the audience engaged.<\/p>\n

First to enter the scene \u2013 a room full of heavy, dated furniture, piled high and seemingly haphazardly \u2013 is Victor Franz (Bahrich), a New York City policeman. He slowly and almost lovingly uncovers some of the many items and puts a record on a Victrola \u2013 a laugh track of sorts, apparently a popular type of recording, once upon a time.<\/p>\n

Victor\u2019s wife Esther (Iannetta) arrives, amid the laughter, which contrasts to the obvious tension between the two. Victor immediately accuses her of being drunk, and she defensively replies, \u201cI had one!\u201d<\/p>\n

The furniture belonged to Victor\u2019s family and is being stored on the upper floor of the building in which they lived. His brother Walter (Monk) is supposed to be coming to help him sell it to an appraiser (Hollands), as the building is soon to be demolished.<\/p>\n

The Franzes\u2019 marriage could be summarized by the phrase \u201cunfulfilled expectations.\u201d Director Adam Henderson \u2013 who is a member of the Jewish community \u2013 has chosen to stage the play as a period piece, so that viewers will ponder how the roles of men and women have changed, and how societal norms have evolved (or not), since 1968, when The Price<\/em> premi\u00e8red on Broadway. Miller\u2019s opening direction is, \u201cToday. New York.\u201d However, the today of 2019 is very different from that of 50 years ago, as is evident on several occasions, especially in how the men talk to and about Esther, and how her character is written overall.<\/p>\n

Eventually, the appraiser stomps and puffs his way up the stairs to home-cum-storage unit. Eighty-nine-year-old Gregory Solomon was expecting there to be only a few pieces to consider and is overwhelmed by the volume of furniture. He also ends up entangled in the volume of resentment and distrust between the brothers, who haven\u2019t spoken to each other for ages. Walter shows up at the end of Act 1, just as Solomon is paying Victor the agreed-upon price for the lot, $1,100, one $100 bill at a time.<\/p>\n

Sweeping in, expensively dressed and broadcasting on more than one level his success and confidence, Walter is the brother who managed to escape their controling father and follow his dreams, while self-effacing Victor dropped out of college to take care of their father, who lost almost everything in the Stock Market Crash of 1929. But, as the conversation and argument proceed, it becomes apparent that neither characterization is accurate. Nor is there a clear verdict on what really happened all those years ago, as they are unable to reconcile their recollections of the past or their beliefs about each other and themselves.<\/p>\n

Solomon \u2013 who has his own regrets in life \u2013 tells Victor, \u201c\u2026 the price of used furniture is nothing but a viewpoint and, if you wouldn\u2019t understand the viewpoint, it\u2019s impossible to understand the price.\u201d<\/p>\n

We do not understand everything we do in life, let alone everything that other people do. The price that we \u2013 and others \u2013 pay for our choices is as obscure. And time doesn\u2019t allow us to go back and change things; time is an ever-present weight in The Price<\/em>.<\/p>\n

There is no happy ending here, despite the humour that runs throughout, and the fact that the play both starts and ends with the laughter record. Once the Franzes have all left, the deal done, Solomon puts on the record. He flops into one of the big armchairs and laughs and laughs.<\/p>\n

The Price<\/em> will leave you with much to think and talk about. For tickets, visit unitedplayers.com<\/a> or purchase them at the door.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Left to right, Patrick Bahrich, Sjahari Hollands and Christine Iannetta co-star, along with Rob Monk, in United Players\u2019 production of The Price by Arthur Miller, which is at Jericho Arts Centre until Dec. 1. (photo by Nancy Caldwell) United Players of Vancouver theatre company has a reputation for tackling challenging, thought-provoking material and, with its […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":33643,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[785],"tags":[8014,1544,6208,2339],"class_list":["post-33642","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-performing-arts","tag-arthur-miller","tag-jericho-arts-centre","tag-theatre","tag-united-players"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33642","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33642"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33642\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33643"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33642"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33642"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33642"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}