“True West” is one of acclaimed playwright Sam Shepard’s many plays. He won eleven Obie Awards as well as a Pulitzer Prize for “Buried Child” in 1979. The following year, “True West” opened. And over the next 20 years, the two main roles were played by Peter Coyote, Gary Sinese, John Malkovich, Dennis Quaid, Philip Seymour Hoffman, John C. Reilly among others. People’s Light is presenting the show with Sanjit De Silva and Ron Domingo as the two brothers, and I can’t imagine anyone better.
Though the title would lead you to believe it’s about the American west, it is more about the two brothers who land in their mother’s home in California while she is off exploring Alaska. The younger, Austin (De Silva) was invited there to look after the house while he is working on a screenplay. The older, Lee (Domingo) has arrived unannounced. Though they are brothers, they are radically different.
Lee is a drifter. He is a petty thief. He is a wise ass who is constantly putting down his brother, both with words and in actual physical confrontations. Justin is an Ivy League graduate with a family and is a successful screenwriter, who is there to work on his love story. But the conflict and chaos between the two is a constant source of friction.
The slow-moving exposition at the play’s beginning is a bit tedious as the brother’s differences are revealed. But it gets more and more complex and interesting. And when the producer, who is encouraging Austin with his screenplay arrives, he becomes more interested in Lee’s story, and Austin is asked to put aside his own work to develop a screenplay of Lee’s story.
Austin finds his brother’s story uninteresting but works on it for a while. What does a brother owe his brother? Whose dreams are more important? Which story is art, and does it make a difference if it sells? In a way, the stories can be viewed as the old west versus the new west. And amidst this sibling rivalry, Shepard gives us elements of dark humor that keeps us off guard while we are laughing. It is riveting.
The story is a timeless one and Director Mei Ann Teo has done a superb job bringing it to the People’s Light Stage!
“True West” by Sam Shepard at People’s Light, 39 Conestoga Rd., Malvern, PA 19355, 610-644-3500, peopleslight.org Thru August 27, 2023
Philadelphia Theater Reviews by Frank Burd 