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Austin360 blogs > Austin Arts: Seeing Things > Archives > 2011 > April > 08 > Entry
Review: ‘August: Osage County
Though dysfunctional families have been fodder for playwrights since the dawn of theater, as Oedipus and Medea demonstrate, it’s the stories of extreme maladjustment that keep us on the edge of our seats.
In his viciously witty tragedy, “August: Osage County,” playing now through May 22 at Zach Theatre, playwright Tracy Letts tracks the decline of the American family touching on practically every imaginable form of dysfunction: emotional abuse, alcoholism and drug addiction, pedophilia, incest, adultery. The only thing missing is incarceration.
After its premier in Chicago in 2007, the hugely popular play transferred to Broadway and ran for nearly 700 performances. Since then, it’s been making the rounds nationwide, and there are plans for a feature film with Meryl Streep and Julia Roberts as the female leads.
It’s been compared to such epic familial meltdowns as Eugene O’Neill’s “Long Day’s Journey Into Night,” and the play proves that there’s still room for three-hour sagas on the 21st-century stage. However, Letts makes the case for his chronicle of the Weston family’s self-destruction with a gripping combination of humor and horror.
Unfortunately, Zach’s marketing choices for their production set up the wrong frame for this deeply tragic portrait of a family’s implosion. Calling the play a “scathingly hilarious tragicomedy” creates a misplaced emphasis on the humor. While there are certainly moments of humor throughout the play, when the audience treats it more like Neil Simon than a tragedy, the results are disappointing. The laughter in “August: Osage County” should be nervous instead of knee-slapping, appalled instead of approving.
The sitcom-style first act sets a precedent that’s difficult to shake off under Dave Steakley’s direction. Though early on the cast anticipates the laughs and plays them up, later on, they can’t seem to convey the shift to seriousness. An incredibly powerful scene at the end was ruined by theatergoers more enthralled by smashing ceramics than the emotional devastation laid bare before them. When we should have left in tears, most people finished the evening with a feeling of good cheer, talking of how funny the play was instead of how sad.
The production is full of inconsistencies and contrasts, and on the whole, the cast struggles with rapid transitions between moments of humor and emotional meltdowns.
As the pill-popping matriarch, Violet, Lana Dieterich doesn’t muster sufficient bile for most of the performance. Her responses verge on hammy at times, but her final breakdown is filled with wrenching despair.
Lauren Lane is stunningly powerful as the “favorite” daughter, Barbara, and the skilled actress effectively tackles the shifts between sarcasm and sorrow.
In this family without filters, it’s the quiet ones you want to watch. Jonathan Shultz’s performance as Little Charles stands out for its simplicity and sweet sincerity. Similarly, as Ivy, the overlooked and underloved sister, Irene White’s final outburst leaves us in stunned silence.
In “August: Osage County,” there are certainly moments of hilarity, but they shouldn’t overshadow the heart and soul of the production — that “dissipation is much worse than cataclysm.”
‘August: Osage County’ continues through 7:30 p.m. Wednesdays-Saturdays, 2:30 p.m. Sundays through May 22. Zach Theatre. Tickets: $32-$49. www.zachtheatre.org
Cate Blouke is an American-Statesman freelance arts critic.
Photo by Kirk R. Tuck.
Comments
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By kathleen
May 19, 2011 12:40 AM | Link to this
I almost didn’t go because of this review. So Glad I Did! The humor is witty with perfect delivery by all the actors. The scenes of drama were so well acted that I did leave at the end in tears. This is one of the best productions I have seen at Zach Scott.
By Annoyed
May 13, 2011 11:56 AM | Link to this
I’m annoyed that anytime a reviewer is critical (or even engages in some sort of critical discourse) of a Zach Scott show, everyone who works for them gets on the website and screams “libel” or “bias.” Let the reviewer review the show. I recall an intelligent Claire Croft review of Drowsy Chaperone last year that dug very deep into larger implications of race/culture in performance and Broadway’s treatment of stereotypes on stage. It was a very important observation, and one well worthy of conversation on the comment section, but instead she was attacked. A little like now. If you don’t like the review, engage and argue the review, don’t personally attack the reviewer. If you don’t like the reviewer, then don’t read the review.
By Kevin Heyburn
May 12, 2011 8:06 PM | Link to this
Ms. Blouke’s critical review sums up all of the problems I also saw with Zach’s production of August: Osage County. I don’t think she was criticizing Zach’s audience. She was criticizing the play’s director for not getting his actors to convey to the audience the horror and tragedy of Mr. Letts’ great play. Audiences have every right to react to a play as they wish, but if, for example, an audience laughs at the final death scene in King Lear, then there is probably a problem with the production. In Zach’s production of Osage County, there was plenty of comedy, but none of the all too real, gut-wrenching, insane sadness that I have seen in ‘first rate productions of Mr. Letts’ plays. Of course there were plenty of good things about Zach’s production. The cast was quite good. But for me, Zach’s production never reached the emotional high ground that other recent Austin productions of Mr. Letts’ plays have reached. Any one who saw Mr. Letts’ “Killer Joe” at Hyde Park Theater knows what I am talking about. As far as I know, Ms. Blouke is the only Austin critic who, like me, thought Zach’s latest effort missed the mark. I respect those who disagree, but at least I hope her critics will agree that she is willing to write what she thinks, even if her reviews are sometimes critical of Austin’s biggest professional theatre.
By Kirk R. Tuck
April 14, 2011 8:44 PM | Link to this
Amazing that a paper that bends over backwards to slavishly massage anything the business community perpetrates on the taxpayers should be so eagle-eyed and contentious about something as innocent as really good theater. This is the second review from this reviewer that borders on libel. Does she have a burr under her saddle when it comes to Zach Scott Theater or does she just not understand the dramatic arts?
The play is incredibly well done. And I was not ashamed to laugh at the funny parts.
By Romeo Diaz
April 12, 2011 2:00 PM | Link to this
This is the most bizarre review I’ve seen in quite a while. I saw the play on opening night. I was amazed and thoroughly entertained by the cast for 3 hours. There never was a dull moment to be seen. I experienced the full range of emotions that I think I was supposed to feel by the author of the play. I think the reviewer misses the point of how one interprets the play as a personal experience but to blame marketing and even worse the audience to me is just deplorable. I think if you were to survey the audiences that have watched this play you will find overwhelming satisfaction at experiencing this play. After all, who is the ultimate reviewer of the play but in fact the audience. If the audience is satisfied then this one review doesn’t matter much at all. Hopefully this reviewer will get it right next time.
By Concerned Theatre Goer
April 12, 2011 11:47 AM | Link to this
The purpose of the theatre critic is to critique every aspect of the production. And I may be old school in saying this BUT the audience is the last piece of the puzzle when producing theatre. Miss Blouke was warranted in her observation of the audience and their reaction. I attended the same performance as Miss Blouke and have to agree that the audience was distracting. I wasn’t able to give myself completely over to the performance and as a regular theatre goer and theatre arist, it’s something I look forward to. I’m very familiar with the text as I have been following its progression since it was first produced in Chicago. There are aspects of comedy in the script, christ, if there wasn’t this 3 act would be too much for any audience to handle, but it’s not a sitcom. Was the production quality high? Yes. Were the performers believable? Yes. Am I happy that this brilliant piece is being produced in Austin? Yes. But I do feel that Austin audiences should be doing more research before attending the theatre.
By Stephen Skaggs
April 11, 2011 5:18 PM | Link to this
Zach Scott has presented a thoroughly respectable, if not admirable, production of this play. Who cares how one particular audience reacted? Moreover, the criticism of Zach�s marketing efforts presupposes that the Austin audience is mindless and is only going to react in a way consistent with Zach�s marketing tagline. Apparently, the audience in the theatre the night I attended was suitably sophisticated to differentiate between well-placed humor and the overarching tragedy of the drama. Indeed, I failed to sense much misplaced laughter from the audience or, for that matter, a lack of empathy for the characters at the devastating conclusion of the work. My audience �got it� just fine. But, in any event, audience reaction and marketing efforts of Zach are beside the point.
While Lana Dieterich, as Violet, doesn�t quite compare with Deanna Duggan, the originator of the role, I can say that Ms. Dietrich did a thoroughly fantastic job: she was believable, and sufficiently venomous, yet vulnerable, for the part. Lauren Lane, as Barbara, was beyond fantastic, as were many of the other characters, most especially Jonathan Shultz as Little Charles.
Does the work equal the New York production? No! Does the work do the play justice, and provide a pithy commentary on the masks we deploy to hide our loneliness and fears? YES, a thousand times yes! Anyone in Austin who cares about good drama, and who thinks it�s important to reflect on family relationships, should see this production.
Zach, and Dave Steakley, deserve a loud round of applause. The Statesman review does not do this production justice by any measure.
By Miles Stone
April 10, 2011 2:42 PM | Link to this
This review stuns me. I agree with the comment by Mr. Parker that this is one of the best pieces of theater I’ve witnessed in 30 years of theater-going in Austin. How Ms. Blouke criticizes the audience for laughing without nervousness is ridiculous. What comedian didn’t come from a dysfunctional family? Humor is how we cope. As an audience member, my emotions ran the gamut as I couldn’t help but think about my own family in comparison to the one on stage, then I laughed …, and laughed some more. I left thinking: Dave Steakley had a perfect vision, Lana Dieterich is beyond amazing, and not one person in the cast or crew lacked even one bit. In short: perfect. That it wasn’t what Ms. Blouke hoped for is irrelevant to what it is. I am ashamed of the Statesman for letting her decide that not only marketing and performance choices were “wrong”, but that audience reactions were as well.
By Johnny Meyer
April 9, 2011 6:58 PM | Link to this
Theater is a community event, and the audience is a critical part of a theatrical exchange. Therefore, it seems appropriate that Ms. Blouke considered both the onstage and offstage performance.
By Meredith McCall
April 9, 2011 4:37 PM | Link to this
Having read this play several time and having attended Zach’s production of August: Osage County last night, I find myself confounded by the reviewer’s criticism of the marketing of this show and its audience. Thinking that perhaps I had missed something, I went back to Zach’s website to re-read the marketing for the production; it reads, “This scathingly hilarious tragicomedy of cataclysmic proportions is one b#*tch of a family reunion! I then referred to the New York Times review of this play which calls it, “Fiercely funny and bitingly sad” and a “turbo-charged tragicomedy” and goes on to say that the viewer “will leave the Imperial Theatre emotionally wrung out and exhausted from laughing.” Based on my reading of the play and this review of the original Broadway production, I fail to see how Zach’s marketing is incorrect or misleading. Furthermore, it is my understanding that the intent of a review is to critique a play and its production; at what point did it become the reviewer’s purview to critique the audience for enjoying a performance? The reviewer may praise or criticize a performance as they see fit; however, their job does not include telling an audience that they have responded incorrectly. I am puzzled and disappointed. The play, however, left me feeling fully satisfied.
By Tom Parker
April 8, 2011 5:46 PM | Link to this
August: Osage County was one of the most incredible pieces of theater that I’ve seen in my 33 years in Austin as both actor and theater-goer. Lana Dieterich’s performance was spot on from beginning to end. The entire company tackled a very difficult play and performed it brilliantly. The laughs in the play came naturally and were never forced by the actors. Yes, we were appalled by the behavior of the characters, but sometimes you are so horrified that all that is left is laughter. Dave Steakley should be commended for mounting such a beautifully directed and well-paced production.