"The Price" by Arthur Miller @ Artists Rep

I once saw a clip of Arthur Miller discussing the premiere of "Death of a Salesman", he said he was panicked because the audience had not applauded at the end. He thought that the play had bombed, and then he slowly realized that the audience had been so overwhelmed that they had forgotten they were watching a play. That's how I felt at Artists Rep's production of Miller's "The Price." This play is so real, so emotionally raw that I wager you will forget that you are in a theatre. The last Artist Rep show that was this transcendent was "The Motherfucker with the Hat", and while I breathlessly praised that show, the one thing I couldn't say is: "If you want to see why I love theatre, go see this show!", because, as its title suggests, that show had a few things that might have offended certain sensibilities. "The Price" has none of that, and it really does have most of the elements I love: poetic yet natural use of language, a story which starts as one thing and ends as another, and somewhat unusually, a lesser known work by a master. Finally I get to say it: "If you want to see why I love theatre, go see this show!"