"A tremendous achievement in American playwriting: a tragicomic populist portrait of a tough land and a tougher people."-"Time Out New York"
"Tracy Letts' "August: Osage County" is what O'Neill would be writing in 2007. Letts has recaptured the nobility of American drama's mid-century heyday while still creating something entirely original."-"New York" magazine
One of the most bracing and critically acclaimed plays in recent Broadway history, "August: Osage County" is a portrait of the dysfunctional American family at its finest-and ...
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Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Nick Hern Books
Date Published: 2008
ISBN-13:9781848420250ISBN:1848420250
Description: Good. **SHIPPED FROM UK** We believe you will be completely satisfied with our quick and reliable service. All orders are dispatched as swiftly as possible! Buy with confidence! read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: NICK HERN BOOKS Country = UNITED KINGDOM
Date Published: 2008
ISBN-13:9781848420250ISBN:1848420250
Description: BRAND NEW PAPERBACK. 160 pages. A vanished father. a pill-popping mother. three sisters harbouring shady little secrets. when the extended weston family is reunited after dad disappears, the oklahoma household explodes in a maelstrom of repressed truths and unsettling secrets. (Paperback) read more
Edition: First Edition
Binding: Trade Paperback
Publisher: Theatre Communications Group, NY
Date Published: 2008
Description: Signed by Author Second printing, in February 2008 (first printing was in January 2008), fine in wraps as issued. An unread copy, signed by the author on the title page. Winner of the Pulitzer Prize and Tony as best drama in 2008. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Nick Hern Books
Date Published: 2008
ISBN-13:9781848420250ISBN:1848420250
Description: New. A vanished father. A pill-popping mother. Three sisters harbouring shady little secrets. When the extended Weston family is reunited after dad disappears, the Oklahoma household explodes in a maelstrom of repressed truths and unsettling secrets. read more
Binding: Softcover
Publisher: IMPERIAL THEATRE, NEW YORK
Date Published: 2008
Description: G. IN B/W & COLOR. -"AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY"-WITH IAN BARFORD-DEANNA DUNAGAN-KIMBERLY GUERRERO-FRANCIS GUINAN-BRIAN KERWIN-DENNIS LETTS-MADELEINE MARTIN-MARIANN MAYBERRY-AMY MARTON-SALLY MURPHY-JEFF PERRY-RONDI REED-TROY WEST, ETC...ETC...-DIRECTED BY ANNA D. SHAPIRO.; 8vo; 48 pages. read more
"I stayed up late last night so I could finish reading Tracy Letts's exquisite play, August: Osage County. I was fortunate enough to see it performed in San Francisco last month. I was especially fortunate to see Estelle Parsons reprise her Broadway role as family matriarch Violet Weston. I just learned that the woman is eighty years old! I can't believe the things she goes through on that stage night after night. She is truly wondrous, and I think I can say with more than a fair amount of certainty that this was the best play I have ever seen or ever will see.
August: Osage County can be described as a darkly comic drama about a dysfunctional family in Oklahoma. You're probably saying "Oh, that's nothing new," but in Letts's capable hands it is. It is so dark and so bleak and yet so hilarious - sometimes all at the same time. I am sure many people can probably relate to at least part of the family dynamic. At one point the friend I attended the play with leaned over and whispered (about Violet's son-bashing sister Mattie Fae) "That woman right there is my mother." No doubt many people could see at least some of themselves in one generation or another of that family.
Beverly and Violet, the husband and wife, probably loved each other once, but their relationship has degenerated into bitterness and passive-aggressive behavior. She is a pill-popping harpy recently diagnosed with cancer of the mouth; an irony that is not lost on Beverly. He is an alcoholic and the poetic equivalent of a one-hit-wonder. They have three grown daughters, and two of them live out of state while one has stayed in their hometown.
The action really begins when Beverly goes missing and the three girls converge at their childhood home along with Violet's sister, her husband, and their son. The eldest daughter brings her estranged husband and their daughter, and the youngest daughter brings her new fiancé, who has never before met her family. The tension is palpable.
My favorite part of the play was the family dinner scene. It was one of the most real and cringe-worthy things I have ever witnessed on a stage or even on a screen. It starts off pleasantly enough...there's the griping over at the kids' table, the bad jokes courtesy of Uncle Charlie, the fiancé trying and failing to make a good impression. I was just waiting for Violet to blow, and she didn't disappoint.
See the play if you can; read it if you can't or if you're a fan of theater. I read it because I just wanted to experience the Westons one more time. What a sad and beautiful treat."
"I read this play for a Rhetoric of Didactic Literature class tought at Florida State. I had no idea what to expect when I started reading. I have to admit, I like many others was partially disturbed in the beginning, but the characters are so likeable that the disturbance dicipated. I have never seen such spectacularly accurate descriptions of a dysfunctional family in print before. While reading, I was reminded of the movie Pieces of April. I don't know if it's typical for readers to be able to relate to the ridiculousness of this family Letts has created, but I know that I did. Sometimes, things are so crazy that you just have to laugh. Letts has a fabulous sense of humor that shines through with each page. Erractic emotions, and impulsive decisions are captured just right in this story. I definitely think this is one that everyone should read. People should be open minded to get the full effect while reading. It ruins the experience if you're judging each family member for their actions on every page."
"I just finished this. I have yet to formulate solid thoughts (I like thoughts and stools to be more solid than loose, but prefer them out of my system within 24 hours, so am willing to make allowances) and am still operating in a shocked and awed state. My head reels, my shoulders are tense... I think I want some muscle relaxants, a glass of bourbon and an Indian to bring me some catfish. It's about a 90 minute read people, just find a copy and do it yourselves. It was akin to being surrounded by screens playing Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? while three or four of O'Neils plays are read aloud... Must stop typing: Images keep popping into my mind, and I must tend to them. They are distracting me from my already weak grammar"
"Wow. What an amazing piece! This was one of the last of my six Pulitzer Prize-winning books I'm reading in preparation to study with my senior seminar this fall (the final one, Lynn Nottage's Ruined won't be published until November), and boy was it wonderful! As with the others, there will be so much to talk about in terms of what aspect of "American life" the play portrays that may have earned it the Pulitzer.
When I began the play, I was struck by how large the cast was, with several characters only appearing in a few pages of the script. This certainly gave it a feeling of the heavyweight plays of yesteryear. One reviewer from New York Magazine who is quoted on the back of the book says, "Tracy Letts's August: Osage County is what O'Neill would be writing in 2007." And the comparison is totally apt, bringing to mind the doomed family of O'Neill's Long Day's Journey into Night. The Weston family here is constantly at odds with one another, usually playing their hostility just below the surface, covering it with the quintessential image of the functioning dysfunctional family.
I loved the play (and can't wait for it to come to Boston in the spring so I can see it performed live); however, it's pieces like this that really mess with my head and my own ideas of family and happiness. Near the end of the play, one character announces that "people can convince themselves they love a painted rock" in regards the many ridiculous relationships that surround her, including her own, masquerading as healthy family environments. The same character earlier identifies America as an "experiment" full of "hubris" that has disappeared but "no one saw it go." A horrifying idea certainly, but one that captures a certain amount of truth in the mainstream of our country. Sentiments like this really make me analyze (and sometimes over-analyze) my own concepts of happiness. Am I fooling myself in thinking that I am immune to the dangers of the Weston family because I educate myself about their existence? (I hope not!)
As with most modern plays that tackle this subject matter, it is laced with terrific humor and touching emotions. This makes it entirely readable (and I'm sure enjoyable to watch live) without a sense of total desperation about the futility of American happiness.
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