August: Osage County

Family Drama
... Jerry Springer channels Tennessee Williams

Oh the agony. Growing up in the plains is tough enough. Add drug dependent parents, three squabbling sisters and an aunt who tortures her husband and son to the point of being mental eunuchs. For close to three hours, the audience is subjected to the whines, screams and physical fights between the female Westons. And the poor men that are connected to them don't fair any better. The histrionics are all set into motion when the senior Mr. Weston goes missing just after he's hired a Native American woman to help care for the house and his wife, Mrs. Weston. She has a serious prescription drug addition that would make Rush Limbaugh look like a boyscout. Mrs. Weston's sister belittles her cuckold husband and her immature son. The three Weston daughters return home to help only to find themselves thrown into actions and circumstances only seen on Jerry Springer episodes. It is like every trailer-trash story of perverted boyfriends, incestual love, and pedophilia was thrown into a play staged like a dollhouse. Plates are thrown, marriages fall apart, and the rafters are tested for decibel tolerance. While some may find all this fun and funny, particularly when the quick wit comes out, I found it overly dramatic and forced. Obviously the writer is appealing to the Steppenwolf talent. In general, I don't like when actors influence the writing too much as the tendency to to go overboard with the 'action' and 'emoting' as is just the case in this monstrosity. Yes, the talent is there, int the writing and acting but nothing is subtle, no scene goes unmasticated. Just wish it would have saved some jaw strength and paused for a sip of something, even just air.