By snoadmin
“August: Osage County” is a powerful tragedy about the illicit romances that ruin an entire family in Oklahoma.
The play currently in the Ahmanson is not based on a true story, but the drama played out in this production is profoundly engaging. The actors in the Oct. 1 performance truly captured the complicated problems of the Weston family in Oklahoma.
The play opens with a stupefying conversation between grandfather Beverly Weston (Jon Devries) and a Native American, Johnna Monevata (Delanna Studi). Monevata will soon become the Westons’ caretaker of the house.
Beverly is an alcoholic and his wife, Violet Weston (Estelle Parsons), is a prescription drug addict. Although it seems like a simple conversation about his family’s typical affairs, Beverly pauses to cry quietly about his problems.
This opening scene is a specter that looms discreetly over the rest of the play. It opens as a dark sitcom with “All in the Family”-styled jokes, where the variety of disgruntled family members come together in a twisted family reunion. Each of the characters have issues to spread amongst the family.
For starters, Violet’s eldest daughter, Barbara Fordham (played by Shannon Cochran), argues constantly with her husband Bill (Jeff Still) who had numerous affairs with the students he taught at his university. Their daughter, Jean (Emily Kinney), is involved in drug use.
As other characters enter the play, it becomes clear that the Weston family is suffering a family meltdown. One of Violet’s daughters is in love with a cousin and another daughter’s husband flirts with a granddaughter. Incest runs amok throughout the play.
The disturbing relationships and family ancestry reveals how the problems are all linked to heartbreaking issues in the past. The story reveals itself like a strange “whodunit” mystery.
This play is not for everyone. Some people will feel uncomfortable about “August: Osage County” for its disturbing portrayal of marital issues and various other affairs that nobody wants to know about.
This story plays out so powerfully near the end that the characters undeniably become a part of the audience. Actor Estelle Parsons is strikingly evil as a pissed grandmother addicted to a wide range of drugs, including Xanex.
It’s a complicated comedy that goes above and beyond the typical dialogue of dramas, with monologues that would make playwright Arthur Miller proud.
Although the Ahmanson Theatre’s acoustics are hardly suitable for the long strings of conversations, the actors’ performance on Oct. 1 was fantastic.
Best of all, the script of “August: Osage County” is a poetic masterpiece of disputes, old grudges and undeniable angst. It’s an understatement to say that “August: Osage County” is one of the Ahmanson’s best productions yet. Watch it immediately, before the plays runs to an end on Oct. 18.
