While Wharton Center lavishes Lansing with plenty of splashy musicals, it's rare for them to bring a straight dramatic play to the Great Hall.. Therefore it was a special to have the Tony Award Winning August: Osage County make a stop here.
Most plays we see these days have small casts - 2-4 actors on the stage is about average. But August has a whopping thirteen characters in this dark, family drama.
I should really say the play had fourteen characters, because the imposing three-story set of a large family house was so intriguing that it was like a character unto itself. The various lighting, use of props and groupings of the characters brought life to the rambling house.
Staring in the title role of the drug addled and mean spirited matriarch of the brood was Academy Award Winner, Estelle Parsons. Although 82 years of age, Parsons gave this totally un-likeable character great personality and spunk. You hated her, but in the end you understood her.
Although the play deals with the everyday tragedies of large families, it does so with razor sharp, biting humor that makes its 3+ hours length palatable. Also the acting was, across the board, superb. Playwright Tracey Letts gave each character its own distinct voice, and the actors transformed them into real people.
August is not for the faint of heart. It deals with suicide, drug addiction, and uses language that is raw and angry.
The most searing performance of all was Shannon Cochran, as the oldest daughter. She lashes out at everyone because of her failed marriage, pot-smoking 14-year-old daughter and her psychotic mother, among other things. Cochran is riveting in her portrayal and gives everything to the role.
August is written with sensitivity and a fine ear for pitch perfect dialogue. Howver, this is not a happy go lucky night at the theater. But it is, without a doubt, magnificent theater.
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