True West
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Cititour.com Review
On its surface, Sam Shepard’s 1980 play, “True West,” now getting its second Broadway production at the Roundabout’s American Airline Theatre, sets out to remind us that, for many people, the words “brotherly love” have been an oxymoron since the days of Cain and Abel. But this complex, multi-layered work is also a meditation on the so-called “American Dream,” a scathing rebuke to the hypocrisy of Hollywood, and a potent reminder that, in many cases, you actually do hurt the one(s) you love. All of which explains why it’s earned a place in the American dramatic pantheon.
Yet, to call the work a masterpiece is to be guilty of overstatement. As much as one admires its exploration of so many themes, not everything in “True West” goes down as easily as the alcohol frequently chugged by its feuding brothers; Shepard’s play is full of unexplained plot holes, surprisingly short on back story, and includes a couple of scenes that practically defy belief. Still, how much of this you’ll notice – or even care about -- in James Macdonald’s estimable new revival is debatable.
For one thing, Macdonald sharply emphasizes the work’s comic nature (sometimes at the expense of its darker heart) for most of its two-hour-plus running time. Secondly, the show benefits immeasurably by the superb work of its stars, especially Ethan Hawke, who in a truly mesmerizing, muscular turn, practically disappears into the role of older sibling Lee, a drifter-cum-thief who unexpectedly pops into his mother’s suburban California house (intricately designed by Mimi Lien, who frames it in a lighted box – perhaps echoing the idea of a movie screen).
As fate would have it, though, Mom (Marylouise Burke, priceless as always) is on vacation in Alaska. Instead, the house is temporarily inhabited by his much younger brother Austin (Paul Dano, initially a tad too understated), a semi-successful screenwriter who has escaped from his northern California home (complete with wife to kids) in order concentrate on a script he’s trying to sell to hot-shot Hollywood producer Saul Kimmer (Gary Wilmes, who seems to be channeling Jeff Goldblum).
So it’s far from surprising that the soft-spoken, well-educated Austin is none too thrilled by his louche brother’s reappearance after a five-year estrangement. Still, they all too easily revert to old, admittedly dysfunctional behaviors and reignite old arguments (especially about their destitute father). And once Kimmer pays a visit, it takes less than 24 hours for Lee to “convince” Kimmer to pursue his “true” story about a pair of guys chasing each other in the Texas panhandle. Presto, change; the brothers, at least momentarily, end up trading places.
What is undeniably great about “True West” is that the aftermath of that decision doesn’t play out exactly as one might expect. While Lee never fundamentally changes, this reversal of fortune (made even more unpleasant by the fact that Kimmer has dropped Austin’s project) ultimately brings out Austin’s more animalistic, primitive side: a transition that is often hilarious (you may never be able to make toast again) but ultimately, profoundly sad. Moreover, one soon realizes that it’s more than that booze talking when Austin declares his intention to live a life more like Lee’s, and that the lengths he’ll go to achieve his goals are actually quite terrifying.
Moreover, Shepard understands the brothers’ struggle is eternal – as is the case with so many siblings. No truer story has ever been told.
By Brian Scott Lipton
Visit the Site
https://www.roundabouttheatre.org/get-tickets/2018-2019-season/true-west
Cast
Ethan Hawke, Paul Dano, Marylouise Burke, Gary Wilmes
Open/Close Dates
Opening 1/24/2019
Closing 3/17/2019
Preview Open/ Preview Close Dates
Preview Opening 12/27/2018
Closing Open-ended
Box Office
212-719-1300
Theatre Info
American Airlines Theatre
227 West 42nd Street
New York, NY 10036
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