Tracy Letts has written an American disfunctional family drama that has it all - alcohol, drugs, suicide, incest and a lot of screaming and shouting. It is a very vivid portrait of a family, with each character well defined. the weakest character in many ways is the father, who disappears early on. The Mother is truly awful - wandering about in a drug fuelled stupor, but not so out of it that she doesn't know exactly what is going on. Estelle Parsons is excellent in this role. You can really learn to hate her.
Shannon Cochran as Barbara Fordham does an astonishing job, particularly at the end, when you can see her becoming her mother. When she sees it, she leaves.
The heat of August in Oklahoma is almost a character in itself and gives the play a southern drama feel.
Some great lines, and some very funny scenes, but overall an American tragedy. Exhausting to watch and when it's over, you want to move away and leave your children on their own to be sure you do not control them!
Long play, big cast. Perhaps not very subtle but the production clearly defined the characters and their situations.
ReplyDeleteThe only weak acting was the actor playing the father, who seemed to be trying to make up for the fact that his character quickly leaves the play with all kinds of bits of business. It did make him memorable - but not in a good way.
Once Dad was gone, the rest of the cast got down to screaming and insulting one another, and did a very good job of it.
Excellent set, by the way.