True West Intense Yet Unrealized

Sam Shepard’s True West is an intense, actor-driven piece of theatre. Its easy-to-summarize, difficult-to-perform story tells of two brothers who find themselves back in their mother’s home, exhibiting fraternity at its best and its worst. With source material that is rich in dialogue and powerful in emotion, it’s no wonder that past productions have drawn the likes of John Malkovich, Gary Sinise, Philip Seymour Hoffman, John C. Reilly, and even Bruce Willis, whose recent performance will be captured on film by the Showtime cable network.

Unfortunately, the Harvard production, while skillfully directed, never seems to come together, as the actors lack the two-person chemistry and individual chops to pull off Shepard’s challenging work.

At the helm of True West is Joy Fairfield ’02, who most recently directed the Woolgatherer, also in the Ex. Fairfield’s familiarity with the space, meticulous attention to detail, and amazing instinct for blocking were evident in what came across as a thoroughly polished production.

The show was replete with artful uses of space, including an interesting juxtaposition of the brothers’ placement in the first and second acts.

One simple, but most impressive touch, was the placement of Saul, the producer and catalyst of strife, played by Brian Gatten ’01, between the two brothers as they pulled him in a verbal tug of war.

Fairchild’s production, though, never achieved the level that the material and the direction merited, because the cast simply did not execute the staging or deliver the lines well enough to do justice to Shepard or to Fairchild.

Shepard’s script demands that both Lee, Peter Richards ’01, and Austin, Sam McKnight (a Tufts student), know their characters intimately and portray them with a credible sense of familial history. Neither Richards nor McKnight were able to make the relationship believable; the connection needed to pull the audience into the action never evolved.

In his scenes, McKnight was physically awkward, seeming uncomfortable and unsure on stage, at his worst in the second act when he attempted to play drunk.

Richards countered with a flat delivery of his lines and a lack of variation in his tone when the script called for a change in mood. Both actors failed to do much with the physical outbursts, unable to justify their arrival, which was well justified by the script and the blocking.

It must be said, though, that both Richards and McKnight improved throughout the evening, peaking in the final scene which was deftly handled by all. The payoff of the play was achieved, as the actors rose to the quality demanded by the material, the staging, and the lighting.

Brian Gatten, in his second appearance on the Harvard stage this summer, turned in another splendid performance. In fact, Richards was at his best when playing off of Gatten, as the two displayed some of the only on-stage chemistry.

The entire production was aided by outstanding technical and design aspects. While the work of set designer Pippa Brashear ’01 and light designer, Ryan McGee ’96 were especially praiseworthy, the entire crew deserves credit for an outstanding visual display.

Shepard writes material that actors covet, but that is different than easy-to-execute. If the acting in this production of West does not ultimately ring true, it remains an excellent play with a stylish production that is worth a look, especially for those unfamiliar with the piece.