SOURCE: “Murmurs of Dissent,” in New Statesman & Society, October 25, 1991, pp. 31-2.

In the following excerpt, Lavender compares the work of Arthur Miller and Hare, and offers praise for the Greek influence apparent in Murmuring Judges.

The love affair between Arthur Miller and Britain has been a long one. Recent years have seen major productions here of After the Fall, The Crucible, A View from the Bridge and Two-Way Mirror, while in turn Miller has made clear his respect for the “creative relaxation” of the British theatre scene. To prove it, his latest play, The Ride Down Mt Morgan, had its world premiere this week at Wyndham’s Theatre.

The timing allows comparison with an English playwright also held in high favour, who treads similar ethical territory. David Hare’s Murmuring Judges, the second in a proposed trilogy about British institutions, has just opened at the National Theatre. Both...