It’s
a good thing Norman Rockwell never had Thanksgiving dinner at the Weston
household, or that famous painting of his would have turned out a lot
different.
The
Westons, for the uninitiated, are the folks who populate this play by Tracy
Letts, and they are a hot Oklahoma mess. Embodying all of the seven deadly sins
and then adding a couple more, this is a family that would make a damn fine
reality show.
And
in this production at Lakeland College, featuring a cast of notable local
actors, the sparks fly especially bright in the second act—after a first act
that slips its gears a few too many times to be fully effective.
Family
matriarch Violet Weston is married to her long-time husband Beverly, and they
have an agreements that boils down to, as Violet says, “He drinks, I take
drugs.” Violet is given to “telling truths” about her family, and that occasion
arises when Beverly goes missing and the family is summoned from near and far.
Among
the ruined people in this wreck of a family are older daughter Barbara, who is
separated from her husband Bill. He still comes along, with their sullen
teenage daughter Jean. Barbara has two sisters, weak and wan Ivy, who lives at
the homestead, and Karen who lives with her fiance Steve (she will be his
fourth wife) in Florida.
Then
there’s Violet’s sister Mattie-Fae Aiken, her husband Charlie and their son,
the fully-grown Little Charles. And this menagerie is watched over by the
Native-American woman, Johanna (Caitlin Post), who was hired as a housekeeper
by Beverly before he disappeared. Another outsider is Sheriff Deon Gilbeau
(Michael Vitovich), who shows up with bad news.
This
is a long and monumentally demanding show, and director Martin Friedman finds
the bones of this script by having his actors dig hard. In the prime role of
Violet, Anne McEvoy is a shattered collision of a human being, but she
continually pulls herself together long enough to torment anyone within
earshot.
Although
he disappears soon, Robert Abelman as Beverly doesn’t obviously telegraph the
situation, speaking convivially with Johanna during her job interview. But his
steady drinking and his haunting singsong exit line, “Here we go ‘round the
prickly pear…” suggests darkness to come.
Diane
Mull as Barbara takes on the most emotionally complex role in the play and
handles it well, although some of Barbara’s twists and turns at the end feel a
bit choreographed. As for the other two sisters, Courtney Nicole Auman is a sad
package as Ivy, and she implodes powerfully when she absorbs the brunt of the
play’s most shocking revelation. Debbie Jenkins as Karen doesn’t quite find the
through line of her Act Two opening scene, but she gets stronger as the play
continues.
Andrew
Narten is solid as Bill and Natalie Welch is properly irritating as Jean. Rose
Leninger and Jeffrey Glover are well matched as the longtime bickering couple Mattie
Fae and Charlie. And Aaron Elersich as sleazy Steve and Jeremy Jenkins as Little
Charles contribute crisp and telling scenes.
The
first act seems to build tension a bit too slowly, with the actors often tucked
up stage in little corners of Keith Nagy’s necessarily complex set. But the
second act is mostly a downhill rush to destruction, with the actors and the
audience hanging on for dear life.
August:
Osage County
Through
October 5 at Lakeland Civic Theatre, 440-525-7034
Lakeland
Community College Campus (just south of Rt. 90 and Rt. 306) in Kirtland.
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