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Sydney audiences are currently in the privileged position of having the opportunity to see the original cast in a Tony award winning production by Chicago’s legendary Steppenwolf theatre company, under the direction of Anna D. Shapiro, of Tracy Lett’s 2008 Pulitzer Prize winning drama, ‘August: Osage County’.
Letts’s play, readily described as the first American classic of the 21st century, mines familiar dramatic territory, that being the extended reunion of a large family, and comes up with a startling and evocative work.
Every branch of the Weston family comes together at the family’s beautiful Oklahoma homestead after the family’s long standing patriarch, Beverley Weston, mysteriously disappears. At the homestead all the family members are at the mercy of the family’s disturbing matriarch, Violet, an aggressive, pill popping, deeply unsettling woman. All the disquiets and tensions within the large Weston family come brutally to the surface in the long days and nights that follow.
The main quality and feature of ‘August: Osage County’ is its authenticity. Audiences come in their droves because the play, its characters and situations, feel real, and audiences can relate! This fantastic production which premiered in its hometown of Chicago in 2008 has travelled to Broadway, North America, London’s National Theatre and now ends its long run with a closing season in our harbour city.
Anna D Shapiro’s production is the complete theatrical experience. The acting is just simply out of this world, exemplified by great focus, timing and delivery. The cast of thirteen are great, the performances of the two leads are exceptional.
Deanna Dunagan gives a towering performance as Violet. I have always felt that the finest moments in drama are when genuine, true vulnerability is exposed on stage. Dunagan’s desolation and vulnerability is just so raw and deep in the play’s closing scene.
Amy Morton is sensational as Violet’s long time and formidable adversary, her eldest daughter, Barbara. As events unfold Barbara’s long standing patience with Violet snaps and the confrontations between mother and daughter are searing. Barbara’s encounter with her mum that brings the play to the first interval literally shakes the theatre’s walls.
The cast are supported by a great creative team. Todd Rosenthal Tony award winning set design of the multi-level, ornate Weston homestead is
sensational. The set was a star in its own right, one just couldn’t help but be impressed by it. Ana Kuzmanic’s costume design, Ann G Wrightson’s lighting, and David Singer’s soundscape each added to the play’s impact.
This is a hot ticket! Anna D Shapiro’s production for the Steppenwolf Theatre Company of Tracy Lett’s ‘August: Osage County’ plays the Sydney Theatre, Walsh Bay until the 25th September, 2010.
