The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
August: Osage County
Dundee Rep until September 16
Theatre fans are in for a rare treat this week as the drama August: Osage County hits the stage in Dundee. The dark, comedic play about a dysfunctional family in crisis is the first production to be brought to the Dundee Rep under the leadership of new artistic director Andrew Panton.
The play is set during a soaring-hot August in Osage County, Oklahoma. When the head of the Weston family goes missing, the estranged members are forced to return home and face past relationships, lies and family secrets, causing tempers to blaze inside the clan’s country estate.
“August: Osage County is a play all about family dynamics,” Andrew said. “It examines what happens when you jam lots of fiery personalities together into one house.
“Somebody once described it as all your worst Christmas days rolled into one! It’s a fantastically brilliant production with lots of incredibly funny, laugh-out-loud moments, amid lots of tragedy. I’m so excited to be bringing it to the stage.”
The play – written by Tracy Letts of the Chicago ensemble theatre company Steppenwolf – won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and a Tony Award and went on to run on Broadway. In 2013 it was also made into a film starring Ewan McGregor, Meryl Streep, Julia Roberts and the late Sam Shepard. Despite its huge success, this is the first time it’s been brought to life on a Scottish stage.
“The Dundee Rep Ensemble will be the first UK cast to ever perform August: Osage County, which is brilliant,” said Andrew.
“To really portray a family on stage and find that chemistry, I think you need to have a cast that have spent quite a long time with each other and know each other inside out. That’s why I really wanted to do this play at the Rep with the ensemble.”
The story features many feisty female characters including Violet Weston, played by Ann Louise Ross, Barbara Fordham, played by Emily Winter, and Mattie Fae Aiken, played by Irene MacDougal.
“August: Osage County is a play about the women for the women and I’m so blessed to have some of the best actors in the country to play these wonderful parts. Watching them embody these strong women every day in the rehearsal room has been just an absolute treat and a joy to watch.”
Andrew added that, as 2017 marks the 10th anniversary of the play, it’s the perfect time to bring it back to the stage. “The production looks at the America of now and examines how it compares to the American dream.
“The play is just so relevant to what is happening today. There’s no better time to be talking about these issues than now.”