“August: Osage County”
When: Through June 12
Where: Old Globe Theatre, Balboa Park
Tickets: $29-$85
Info: (619) 23-GLOBE
Web: TheOldGlobe.org
By Patricia Morris Buckley | SDUN Theatre Critic
If Tennessee Williams were still alive he would write “August: Osage County.” It’s filled with some of his favorite themes: Hearts irrevocably broken, deeply hidden family secrets, long held grudges, sibling discord, a sprinkle of incest, and characters who are sinking fast in dire situations of their own making.
In other words, it’s not a comedy.
“August” is the Tony Award-winning, Pulitzer Prize-winning play by Tracy Letts. It explores the dynamics of an Oklahoma family that has been teetering on the brink of despair for many years. The action begins when Beverly Weston hires a young girl to help his wife, Violet, who is addicted to painkillers and who has mouth cancer. We soon learn he’s made this hire just before going off to kill himself.
As his three adult daughters, their significant others and children gather for the funeral, we get to know one of the nastiest characters to ever appear on stage—Violet does not live up to the delicacy and charm of her name. She is violently abusive when aware of her surroundings and practically comatose when over-doing the pills.
As secrets are exposed, lives ruined and relationships damaged without hope of repair, we watch, amazed. It seems impossible that things could get worse—until they do. In the end, there is only the slightest sliver of hope, but the fact that there’s any at all is more significant than if the character had merely survived a few small traumas. These characters are more like wounded soldiers after a bloody battle.
What lifts this production to the heights it reaches is the nuanced, detailed and heartwrenching performance of Lois Markle as Violet. It’s almost as if she’s playing one character and her evil twin, except both versions are evil in their own way. Robert Foxworth plays Beverly, who only has one scene. This is interesting because he played the uncle on Broadway.
The rest of the cast is solid. Robin Pearson Rose plays it big as Aunt Mattie Fae, while Guy Boyd has one major moment as her spouse and makes it memorable. Angela Reed plays the Weston’s eldest daughter, Barbara, who is hell-bent on telling everyone the truth, thinking that doing so will help her handle her own pain.
The play calls for a threestory set, which means the Old Globe has to open up its stage to accommodate it. David Zinn’s set dressings, with pile after pile of papers, look just as you’d imagine the home of an elderly couple dealing with drug and alcohol addiction would appear. (The only small misstep is when Violet tries to foist a breakfront on her daughters that’s a built-in.) But if there a second star to this production it’s Japhy Weideman’s stark lighting, which creates sharp shadows contrasted with seemingly normal scenes.
Sam Gold’s direction is cohesive, yet sometimes loses focus. For instance, he attempts an image at the very end that’s almost impossible to interpret and is different from the way it was directed on Broadway. That ambiguity seems ill-fitting with the script’s minute attention to detail.
Watching people go through such pain and suffering isn’t for everyone, but the journey is certainly one you won’t forget. There’s a reason this play has garnered so much praise, and the Old Globe has created a striking production.
