(Above: Left to right, actors in The Very Little Theatre’s production of August: Osage County include Laura Robinson as Mattie Fae Aiken, Nancy West as Violet Weston, and Jennifer Sellers as Barbara Fordham; photos by David Landon of Falling Tide Creative.)
By Randi Bjornstad
What August: Osage County is all about somewhat depends on who’s describing it. In announcing the play The Very Little Theatre sums it up this way:
“August: Osage County is more than a play — it’s an unforgettable journey into the complexities of human connection. Whether you’re drawn to compelling drama or dark humor, this play delivers both in abundance. With its sharp dialogue, unforgettable characters, and a talented cast, this production promises an emotional roller coaster you won’t want to miss … an experience that will resonate long after the final curtain.”
Dig a little deeper, and you’ll learn that it’s a complicated play written by Tracy Letts about family relationships, and it won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 2008. It had its Broadway debut in December 2007 and closed in June 2009 after 648 performances.
As for those “complexities of human connection,” they begin with the introduction of retired professor and poet Beverly Weston (in the English style a male rather than a female name) and his wife, Violet, who is dying from cancer occasioned by a lifetime of smoking, and experiencing a variety of prescription addictions. Beverly himself admits freely to being an alcoholic. In a nutshell, there’s a raft of possible plot complications.
A few weeks later, Beverly disappears, and other members of the family — siblings, grown children and their spouses and children — begin arriving to give his wife, Violet, support and help in the search. Then it’s discovered that Beverly’s boat is missing, suggesting either accident or suicide. As might be expected, all these other characters also have issues of their own — one couple puts on a false show of closeness when in fact they have separated because the man, who teaches at a university, is having an affair with a female student. Others have avoided various family contacts for years because of a variety of old disagreements or grievances.
Then the local sheriff arrives with the news that Beverly’s body has been found, presumably death by drowning, ending Act 1.
Act 2 opens at the time of Beverly’s funeral. The gathering of even more fractious relatives with their own issues complicates the situation even further, and the memorial dinner is the perfect setting for all these new — and sometimes old — tensions to spill into the open. In Act 3, things have calmed down somewhat, but they soon heat up again as even more and more family secrets and actions are revealed to complicate the story.
Even the ending raises questions. The movie, which included actresses Meryl Streep (who won the best actress Oscar for her performance) and Julia Roberts (who was nominated for best supporting actress) had a different outcome from Letts’ play script, adding a short, slightly more positive scene at the end after audiences rebelled at the original dark ending.
One other interesting little twist: For those who usually associate the name Tracy with the female gender, not here. Playwright and actor Tracy Letts is a guy, and he has said that his “tragicomedy,” August: Osage County is at least somewhat autobiographical, including the suicide of his maternal grandfather when Letts was a child.
For additional background on the play, its plot and subplots and characters, Wikipedia offers a detailed description at en.wikipedia.org/wiki/August:_Osage_County.
VLT’s August: Osage County
When: Evenings at 7:30 p.m. on Jan. 24-25, and 31; and Feb. 1, 6-8; Sunday matinees at 2 p.m. on Jan. 26, and Feb. 2 and 9
Where: The Very Little Theatre, 2350 Hilyard St., Eugene
Tickets: $26; available online at TheVLT.com or through the box office at 541-344-7751
Actors in VLT’s August: Osage County, left to right: Ella Killingsworth, Nancy West, Jennifer Sellers, Paul Dunckel, Mari Kenney. Marty Brown, Laura Robinson, and Jennifer Appleby Chu.
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