By Sheila Barth
BOX INFO: Sam Shepard’s two-hour, two-act Modern American classic play, starring Nael Nacer and Alexander Platt, through Sept, 8, Wednesday-Saturday,7:30 p.m., matinees Saturday, Sunday, 2 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 2, free post-show discussion with the artists. Gloucester Stage Company, 267 E. Main St., Gloucester. $35-$45, senior, veteran, under 18 discount tickets offered. gloucesterstage.com 978-281-4433.
Whatever you do, try to see Gloucester Stage Company’s explosive, dynamic, two-hour, two-act production of prolific author Sam Shepard’s Modern American classic play, “True West”. Starring Nael Nacer in the role of Lee, desultory drifter and petty thief, and Alexander Platt portraying Austin, Lee’s younger successful and talented author brother, (with direction by Joe Short), their riveting performances will keep you on the edge of your seat.
Austin and Lee are proverbial antithetical foils. While Lee is dressed in gritty outdoor garb, Austin looks uptight in his sweater vest and slacks, (provided by costume designer Miranda Kau Giurleo). They haven’t seen each other for five years. Austin left his comfortable home and family to put the final touches on his latest screenplay that producer Saul Kimmer (Mark Cohen) has enthusiastically approved. He needs the quietness of his mother’s suburban home 40 miles outside of Los Angeles to concentrate, but Lee will disrupt his plans in a multitude of ways. Their mother, (Marya Lowry) is currently on a trip to Alaska and their desert-dwelling, alcoholic father (unseen) is in trouble again.
Austin’s serenity is shattered when Lee suddenly bursts through he door, filled with bluster, pent-up resentment, and jealousy. Lee wants to borrow Austin’s car, but Austin refuses and offers him money to go to a motel instead. Lee explodes, attacking Austin. “Never say that to me,” he shouts. “I can get my own money!” While Austin lives in his cushy home, Lee has been roughing it in the desert and committing petty thievery, but as we soon see, Lee is also full of other surprises.
Under Joe Short’s realistic, pugnacious direction, Lee rants, raves, and attacks Austin with raging force. Austin can’t appease him.When producer Saul arrives on the scene to discuss Austin’s final changes, Lee takes over. He has an idea for an even better movie – a modern Western. Because Lee is a veteran con man, Mark thinks Lee’s idea has validity, too, and is scrapping Austin’s in favor of Lee’s whacked-out proposal. Suddenly, Austin’s world -and his script – come crashing down. And Lee has maneuvered to make Austin write his script for him – using Lee’s words, of course. The second act brims over with irony, comedy, and role reversal, in which both brothers reach an epiphany – with violence – and a startling re-awakening. Don’t miss this unconventional love story.
