True West
By Sam Shepherd
Directed by Adam Rapp
Reviewed by Emily Pike
Entire contents copyright ©2012
Emily PIke. All rights reserved.
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| William Apps and Nate Miller in True West. Photo by Alan Simons. |
The program cover depicts what
appear to be two adolescent wolves in some state of aggression (or play?). And
the set – a mid-1980s-style kitchen boxed in on all sides by eight-foot-tall plexiglas
panels – instantly transforms the stage into a large enclosure. You are visiting
an exhibit at the zoo decorated in its species’ natural habitat; or looking at
a very large, well-appointed rodent cage. From the moment you take your seat
for Actors Theatre of Louisville’s new production of True West, you get a clear sense that what you are about to see is
wild creatures on display.
Estranged adult brothers Lee and
Austin have run into each other at their mother’s home while she is on
vacation. Austin, a Hollywood screenwriter with an Ivy-league education and
young family of his own, was invited to housesit and has been spending his time
quietly working on a new screenplay. Lee has shown up unannounced, covered in a
thick layer of dust and with plenty of beer in tow, after several months living
alone in the desert. He is looking to rob some of the homes in his mother’s
suburban Los Angeles neighborhood and to get out before anyone traces the
thefts back to her. The play explores the brothers’ relationship through a
series of events and several interactions with other characters, all within the
confines of their mother’s kitchen, the metaphorical heart of the home where
they grew up. It is within these walls that family dynamics shaped the
personalities and life choices of these two men – two boys raised by an
alcoholic father and a mother unable to cope with reality, whose marriage
ultimately came to an end, though not before sufficient damage had been
inflicted.
The acting in this production is
solid all around. Actors Nate Miller (Austin) and William Apps (Lee) are entirely
believable as brothers, and they let their ingrained sibling dynamics show
through at all the right times. Miller’s immediate retreat at the first sign of
Apps’ aggression is memorable, and the progressively growing boldness in his
responses to his brother makes the arc of their relationship throughout the
play all the more evident from beginning to end.
Connor Barrett is appropriately
full of crap as Saul Kimmer, the Hollywood hotshot looking to produce Austin’s
latest screenplay, but there were times when the banter between him and Lee
felt uncomfortable and forced. This is not at all in keeping with the events of
the plot, where Saul is so instantly won over by Lee that they agree to play
golf and do business together within minutes of meeting for the first time.
Perhaps Rapp was trying to more deeply explore the insinuation on Austin’s part
that Lee had somehow threatened Saul into the business deal. But as this is not
supported by Saul’s own demeanor or words in a later scene, it doesn’t work.
Finally, a very delicately
neurotic performance by Emily McDonnell does a wonderful job of tying the play
together at the end and highlighting the dysfunctional elements of the
brothers’ childhood. Unfortunately, I personally couldn’t get past wondering
about her age. Was it just me, or did McDonnell look like she was about the
same age as Miller and Apps? Perhaps I am mistaken, and she just has very good
skin; it was hard to be certain with distance and a sheet of plexiglass between
us. But it was a little disappointing to be distracted from her very good
performance by the physical reality that she just didn’t look like their mom.
Design elements come together
neatly to serve Rapp’s choice of presenting this play as a study of human
behavior. Lighting and sound are utilitarian and unobtrusive, serving as
natural backdrops that help place the action in time. The set, already
discussed, creates a physical barrier between the observer and the observed. It
makes the “fourth wall” style of performance quite literal, which creates an
especially interesting dichotomy for a performance space in the round. The
kitchen space is small and bright but sparsely decorated, hinting somewhat at
the emotional hollowness of the family that once inhabited it and, perhaps, of
the woman who still does. Costume details help paint characters, from Lee’s
ragged and too-tight denim cutoffs and Austin’s bland button-downs to Sal’s
big-shot-casual garb and their mother’s fashionably sensible outfit. They also
help to illustrate Austin’s journey, in particular, as he devolves from said
button-downs into stained undershirt and skid-marked tighty-whiteys by the
final scene. It is clear that no one, not even the successful son, is able to
escape the pervasive influence of this family’s dysfunctional past.
All in all, an interesting
production of a very good play. Perhaps four out of five stars. However, it
never quite found that je ne sais quoi
that could’ve really knocked my socks off. It made me think, it made me laugh
(a lot). But more than anything, it made me wish fervently that I had been able
to see the Broadway production with Philip Seymour Hoffman and John C. Reilly.
That said – solid acting, cohesive design, clear direction, excellent writing.
Despite not hitting it out of the park, still highly recommended.
True West
November 15-December 9, 2012
Actors Theatre of Louisville
Bingham Theatre
316 West Main Street
Louisville, KY 40202
(502) 584-1205
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