Family tensions erupt in Osage County drama

August: Osage County by Tracy Letts
Auckland Theatre Company
Maidment Theatre
Until September 25

It is a universal truth that when there are more than two females in a family there will be trouble. Mothers never understand why their daughters do not follow their advice and rarely get their daughters to do what they are supposed to do. Every daughter believes their mother to be overbearing and insensitive to their needs and aspirations.

The tension between daughters and mothers is one of the key aspects of the new ATC play “August: Osage County.” In this play there are three sisters who each have issues with their mother and each also has issues with her siblings.

The Westons are an Oklahoma Prairie family and all the members return to the family home when the father, Beverly goes missing. The academic and poet had become a career alcoholic in retirement while his wife Violet has settled in for pill popping to counter her mouth cancer and depression.

In examining why Beverley might have run off the daughters and the rest of the extended family dredge through the past, finding a few skeletons.

This is a play which will probably be one of the defining works of America's first decade of the twenty-first century. While it does not deal with political or social issues directly, the play provides a snapshot of the personal issues that can undermine families and society.

Tracy Letts' script teeters on a knife-edge between bleak tragedy and black comedy, with each of those aspects feeding off the other. He has also created deep and subtle characters which the cast are able to flesh out sensitively.

As the matriarch Violet, Jennifer Ludlum cleverly moves the character from oppressed and depressed to deceitful and devious.

Jennifer Ward-Lealand as the older sister Barbara gives a gripping and gritty depiction of a woman who has all the makings of a Violet, struggling with the relationship she has with her husband, mother and child.

As the two other sisters, Hera Dunleavy as Ivy and Andi Crown as Karen create well-crafted roles, brilliantly interacting with Ludlum and Ward-Lealand.

Colin McColl’s direction and staging with a semi abstract set (designed by Robin Rawstorne) allows the tale to hover between contemporary realism and classical Greek tragedy.

One character of the play is something of an authorial intervention. This is Johnna Monevata, the Native American who Beverly hires to look after his wife and family. Played by Nancy Brunning, she is an enigmatic almost dreamlike participant in helping guide the family through its conflicts and catastrophes.

She stands for the idea that Americans and America need to reassess their perspectives on life and relationships.

Before he disappears, we briefly meet Beverly (flamboyantly played by Stuart Devenie) first thing in the play. He gives a rambling attempt to explain himself, his success and failure along with a few literary references. His opening line is from Eliot’s The Hollow Men “life is very long.” So is the play. At close to three and a half hours (including two intervals) it is a rewarding marathon effort and thankfully it’s only the first part which drags.