Repertory Philippines Presents August: Osage County
When in Manila and you want to watch a soap opera from hell, you better catch August: Osage County on its last set of shows this week.
The cast of Repertory Philippines’ August: Osage County
August: Osage County is a dark-comedy play written by Tracy Letts and premiered at the Steppenwolf Theater in Chicago in 2007. Later that year, it opened on Broadway, with 648 performances and 18 previews by the time it closed in 2009. In its two-year run, it garnered many awards including five Tony awards, three Drama Desk awards, and a Pulitzer Prize for Drama. In 2013, it was adapted into film by John Wells with the help of Letts. It starred Meryl Streep and earned two Oscar nominations this year.
August: Osage County is the story of the Westons, whose patriarch, Beverly Weston mysteriously disappears. The family gathers together at their farmhouse in Oklahoma hoping for news, and while waiting, dig up family drama that would put any dysfunctional family to shame. Because of its intricate plot and family issues, we list down the major characters and their personal issues:
- Violet Weston: the imperial grand dame of the family. A loud, brash, and aggressive woman who is addicted to painkillers. Suffers from what her husband called the joke’s punchline: oral cancer.
- Barbara Fordham: the eldest daughter of Beverly and Violet. She is a caring yet controlling woman whose marriage is slowly disintegrating. Her husband Bill is having an affair with one of his students, but he is there to support his wife. Their daughter Jean is an adolescent with growing pains (and a predilection for pot).
- Ivy Weston: the Westons’ middle child. She is the cool, calm, and collected type, often interrogated for still being single at 44. She is, in fact, in a secret relationship, with someone she shouldn’t be having a relationship with.
- Karen Weston: the youngest Weston child. She is carefree and hedonistic, and is engaged to a sleazy man named Steve who has his own predilections.
- Mattie Fae Aiken: Violet’s sister. Is as loud and brash as her sister. Constantly antagonizes her husband Charlie and their son Little Charlie, who they call a “screw-up.”
- Johnna Monevata: the Cheyenne woman Beverly hires to watch over Violet and the household. May be the only sane soul in the Weston farmhouse.
