ARTHUR Miller’s play The Price has a special significance for the Octagon’s artistic director David Thacker.

The play was the first where the director had a really significant relationship with the playwright — and the pair went on to have a lasting friendship until Miller’s death in 2005.

When David first directed The Price, at the Young Vic, Miller came to England at the end of the rehearsals to work with him.

Now a new production of the play will open at the Octagon on March 10, and Thacker is understandably overjoyed.

“It was extraordinarily important to my development as a human being and a director to share that time with him,” he said.

“Even though The Price is not one of the most familiar plays, it is right up there with his greatest plays.”

The Price follows on in the same vein as Thacker’s hugely successful production of Miller’s All My Sons, with which he opened his first season at the Octagon.

“The Price is another family play, it centres on two brothers who really have to come to terms with their feelings for each other, so in that way there are a lot of parallels with All My Sons,” he said. “There are also some great examples of Arthur Miller’s wit at its most characteristic.”

Before The Price opens Thacker will be directing Romeo and Juliet at the theatre in February.

“Young people are suffering and dying because of the appalling world the adults have created,” he said. “It happened in the play and it is still happening now. But through love, young people can heal the world.”

Tickets for both shows are on sale now from the Octagon box office. Visit octagonbolton.co.uk or ring 01204 520661.