|
|
|
Revival of the play by Arthur Miller
Decor: Fran Thompson But then he has expert performers in Bob Peck, David Calder and Marjorie Yates, playing Walter, Vic and Vic's exasperated wife. Peck's study of someone with a long-hardened centre trying to soften himself -- nut passing itself off as cream, so to speak -- is finely managed; but it is Calder who has the most opportunities for complexity. - Benedict Nightingale, The Times, 8 February 1990 Until then, David Calder and Bob Peck play the reunion with elaborate evasiveness, masked in smiles, oozing solicitude for each other's families, retreating into boyhood memories of fun they once had in this room; anything to avoid tearing the scab off their long-festering grievances. Both emotional heavyweights, Calder and Peck also excel in the nuances of unspoken embarrassment; and their scenes have a lightness and comic verve you would never suspect from reading the text. But finally the gloves do come off, and you are left with the paralysing spectacle of irreconcilable opponents stuck in an endless groove of self-righteous recrimination. ... - Irving Wardle, Independent on Sunday, 18 February 1990 |
All the choices we make come with a balance sheet attached
but as Arthur Miller's The Price (Young Vic) makes clear we frequently
deceive ourselves as to the bottom line that indicates the real cost of
living.
Miller's 1968 play is too formulaic and contrived to qualify as really great drama (although it's no fault of the playwright that fraternal strife has become such common currency in the TV mini-series that the great American tradition of confessional drama has become debased) but in David Thacker's cleverly restrained and truthful production it has moments of such astonishing and painful insight that one can hardly bear to watch. In the hands of a lesser dramatist (and director and cast) the estrangement of the brothers Franz could well descend into melodrama. Here, it achieves tragic status and, if like me, you find the kind of drama that rummages amongst the family skeletons rather dusty, you could be almost persuaded by this slice of New York family history set amidst a lifetime of accumulated possessions, secrets, jealousies and private pain. If not, you will at least be able to savour acting of the kind that creeps up behind you and knocks the breath out of your body. David Calder, Majorie Yates, Alan MacNaughton and Bob Peck make it look so easy. At one electrifying moment Peck rounds on his brother (Calder). Flinging down a coat, his face contorts in fury before resuming a mask-like smile. It's like glimpsing through a window and seeing someone's soul. - Lyn Gardner, City Limits, 15 February 1990 The play, in short, has changed its meaning with time; and it is no criticism either of Mr Thacker's production or Bob Peck's performance to say that Walter now seems like a pre-figuration of Reaganite values. But Mr Peck invests the character with all the sympathy he can muster, playing him as guilt-ridden, past-haunted figure and beautifully hinting at the crack-up lurking underneath the Saks suit. - Michael Billington, Guardian, 9 February 1990 Bob Peck's performance, as edgy Walter is, by contrast, strained and mannered. He appears to project his voice via the bottom of his cheeks and up through his nose -- an attempt, perhaps, to suggest the suppression of emotion. Peck pushes our sympathy too far toward Vic by failing to indicate a heartfelt need to win back Vic's love; his courting looks instead like bald manipulation. - Georgina Brown, Independent, 2 February 1990 |
|
The Bob Peck Database was originally launched in September 1998.· · Relaunched on 24 January 2003. · · Photos are copyrighted by the photographers. · · Articles, reviews and interviews are copyrighted by the publications cited. · · This website is © copyrighted by cynicole, 2003. |