Review: AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY at State Theatre Centre

Set in a scorching Oklahoma summer, AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY takes a contemporary look at the collapse of the American dream, illustrated by the collapse of a family unit. After an extended and multi-award winning Sydney season, BLACK SWAN Theatre Company has brought it west thanks to their long standing partnership with Belvoir Street Theatre Company. An absolute theatrical delight, AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY is a play that simply cannot be missed.

The play begins with an ageing family head Beverly taking on help, ostensibly to assist as he and his wife age, but we soon find out Beverly has other plans. He disappears, and with the family lynchpin removed the fragile system disintegrates. The family gather around the matriarch, but all they find is the reason they left in the first place. What ensues is a hilariously tragic (or, perhaps, tragically hilarious) coming together to fall apart.

Leading the family unit is Pamela Rabe as Violet. Declining due to tongue cancer that begets an opioid addiction, Violet’s lucidity fluctuates wildly, manifesting as sharp words pointed towards her family that vary in severity depending on how her faculties are. Rabe plays this part superbly, from the ticks that her many conditions bring on, to the many family battles Violet begins only so she can end them. Her equal in battle and character, Hayley McElhinney plays eldest daughter Barbara. Her own family unit coming undone, Barbara repeatedly is the first to be attacked by her mother, insults and taunts which she returns in kind, with hatred and humour in equal measure. McElhinney is truly brilliant in the role and her many battles with Rabe’s Violet show theatre at its finest.  

Bert LaBonte plays the hapless Bill Fordham, Barbara’s estranged husband who is unwittingly stuck trying to control the damage to those around him, sharing the burden of the family he entered into. Caroline Brazier is Mattie Fae Aiken, her own secrets contributing to the family’s troubles even though her own family unit seems- relatively, at least- put together. Amy Mathews is Ivy Weston, who illustrates why some may elect to remain single (or, certainly, to not share who their partner is) with a mother such as Violet. Bee Cruse plays Johnna, the Native American live-in who is derided by the family throughout only to show that they are the only one in the story with any sort of stability. A mix of Perth locals and original cast members from the Sydney run, the mix is struck perfectly and the cast enhance a sensational storyline by working harmoniously together whilst illustrating the dysfunction that is the beating heart of the play.

The set, designed by Bob Cousins, is simple and remains the same throughout the three acts, putting the story within a fairly simple times and highlighting the low means of the family. Ella Butler’s costume design places the characters and the storyline firmly within the Great Plains, the dust of which hangs heavy over the people who live there. Director Eamon Flack’s directing ensures the audience’s attention and energy is always excactlvt where it needs to be.

Broken into three parts, AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY begins with an exploration of the characters as the family draws back together. There are hints of secrets and tension, but the surface is merely scratched. The second act is a gathering of the family for dinner, which very quickly devolves into a confrontation that will have you gasping for air from laughing, before particularly pointed words leave you simply gasping. The way each character contributes to the tension and humour is exquisite, making the second act a particularly memorable piece of theatre.  The third act reveals many of the secrets the family is desperate to keep hidden, providing a conclusion that gives relief as much as it resolves anything.

AUGUST: OSSAGE COUNTY is at the State Theatre Centre until March 16. Tickets and more information from BLACK SWAN Theatre Company.

Photos thanks to Philip Gostelow.