Ideally speaking, the home is a place of solace. This is where one goes when the tragedies and the realities of the world become too heavy to bear. To a large extent, home is one’s permanent source of protection and lightness. So what happens then when home becomes a depository of impending tragedy with secrets and unaddressed guilt lurking within the shadows? Is it still worth coming back to?
In a nutshell, this is the premise of Repertory Philippines’ latest production, August: Osage County. Penned by Tracy Letts, this Pulitzer Prize-winning dark comedy zooms in to the life of the Weston household as each family member is forced to come back home following the disappearance of its patriarch, Beverly. Confronted with high tension, deeply rooted angst, and shocking secrets, the family’s dynamics inevitably heats up; waiting for that unstoppable and utter implosion.
Chris Millado directs the play with near perfection. He effectively helmed the orchestration of a household brewing with contempt, a ticking time bomb that’s just waiting to blow up. The chaos he ultimately built is not confusing and frustrating, but rather engaging. For a story about a complex web of antagonism and angst, his work is an incredible and notable achievement.
The ensemble, on the other hand, is simply magnificent on stage. Composed of a powerhouse cast, the actors breathe life to a family that is constantly on the edge of personal peril. Baby Barredo completely loses herself into her character, the drug-addled and often contemptuous matriarch Violet Weston. Barredo showcases the depth of her character with such excellence such that the inner workings of her character’s confused and confusing psyche are translated to her presence on stage. Pinky Amador plays the eldest child Barbara Fordham with compelling power and control. You see how the character struggles to hold the emotions all up and just mindlessly let herself go when the tension within her blows up. Leisl Batucan, fresh from her amazing performance in Wait Until Dark, graces the stage once again as one of the Weston daughters, Karen. Her impeccable performance and timing makes her steal nearly every scene she’s in. The moment when Karen sheds off her façade and confronts Barbara is massively affecting. Richard Cunanan shows great range as he jumps from comedic to intense as Violet’s brother-in-law Charles Aiken.
The rest of the cast, composed of Angeli Bayani (Johnna Monevata), Tami Monsod (Ivy Weston), Leo Rialp (Beverly Weston), Kenneth Moraleda (Bill Fordham), Sheila Francisco (Mattie Fae Aiken), Thea Gloria (Jean Fordham), Hans Eckstein (Steve Heidebrecht), Noel Rayos (“Little” Charles Aiken), and Arnel Carrion (Sheriff Deon Gilbeau), energizes the stage and complement each other with their respective performances. It is important to note that with the complexities of each character, it is easy and convenient to just hate them altogether. But with the ensemble’s intelligent and devoted portrayals, the narrative – along with the characters in it – ultimately becomes engaging, relatable, and easy to sympathize with.
The show’s production design allows the audience to examine every section and niche of the house; the chaos that simultaneously happens in each is fully encapsulated. Its pseudo-cross section perspective of the set provides the audience with the power to witness the brewing tension. The audience is automatically turned into peeping toms — helplessly witnessing an entire family break itself down. The sound and light were faulty during the press preview: sound level wasn’t even; the lighting misses timing and mark. The lighting design; however, was noteworthy as it plays with shadows – perhaps a metaphor of the lies, angst and contempt that lie in the dark corners of their family life. Nevertheless, the errors can be easily fixed and as such, there’s a strong hope that these will be addressed in the production’s subsequent shows.
Comedy is usually hard to pull off – especially on live stage. It doesn’t have the advantages of camera work, camera angle, and compelling musical scores like in film. It requires an inherently witty material, accurate timing, and believable interaction among the cast. A dark comedy is perhaps even more difficult. After all, sarcasm and dry wit may always run flat if portrayed ineffectively. As such, much credit goes to the director and the cast for successfully pulling it off in this staging — especially because humor is a vital element in the material’s narrative. It functions as a vehicle to show contempt and showcase discontent. The show’s dark humor serves as a bleak façade to the family’s flaws.
In the end, August: Osage County’s dark subject becomes engaging and entertaining with its witty material and powerhouse performances. While this is not one’s usual feel-good production, it provides us with a more realistic representation of life — of how bad home and personal relationships can get. Some stories just don’t end on a happy note; some conflicts become too deep to resolve. Tragedy is sometimes inevitable. Its honesty is admirable; a fresh break from the lies that pop culture materials usually propagate nowadays. And for these reasons, the show is definitely worth watching.
And oh, the play has three acts. Intermission comes after the second one. So wait for the advice for intermission before you get up and head to the restroom, because you might miss something magical.
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'August: Osage County' runs at Onstage Theater Greenbelt 1 until Sunday, March 16, 2014. For ticket inquiries, please call Ticketworld at (63 2) 891-9999 or call (63 2) 571-6926 and (63 2) 571-4941; buy tickets online here.
Ticket Prices: Gold (Reserved Seating) – P625.20, Silver (Free Seating) – P521, Bronze (Free Seating) – P416.80. March 16, 2014 3:30pm show ticket prices: Gold – P1,042, Silver – P 625.20, Bronze – P521.
