From the Road: "August: Osage County" and "The Receptionist"

posted by Vijay Mathew

Last week I had the chance to see August: Osage County by Tracy Letts and The Receptionist by Adam Bock in New York (that's the Receptionist, herself, on the left—Jayne Houdyshell). The two are very different plays, each exhibiting what theater is best at doing. Without exaggerating, I think the production of August: Osage County originally from the Steppenwolf Theatre Company is a masterpiece of American theater, and it was heartening for me to see something of such great artistry, humor and depth in the theater. In many ways, this production situates itself in the tradition of the great dramatic American plays about family—except that it is hilarious. Which made me doubt my assumptions for a brief moment about the great American mid-century dramas from which August springs: have they lost their humor in their subsequent revivals? Maybe Long Day's Journey into Night was a laugh-riot when audiences first saw it in the 1950's. But then I thought about it again, and no, Long Day's Journey was probably never funny, no matter how great it was. (If someone saw that production on Broadway in '56, please comment here!) The next doubt to enter my mind was: will August be around in fifty years and if so, who are these mysterious people and institutions that make those decisions about the future and have influence on a play's legacy? I want to meet them.

Apart from being a great play, it is equally matched by a great production overflowing with imagination and spontaneity. It is extremely rare to see a company of actors so capable of creating their roles and of truly living inside of imaginary circumstances for two hours, or in the case of August, for four hours. This kind of artistry in acting and directing is rare and difficult to accomplish in our freelance and four-week rehearsal model of theatrical production. And ironically, this kind of artistry never seems to be a prominent value or goal in American theater even though realism is still, fortunately, our dominant style. It's our imaginative connection to the performers and to the world that they are spontaneously conjuring up that makes it uniquely theatrical—something that the other realistic dramatic forms on television and film can never provoke in us. Maybe the Steppenwolf Theatre Company's production of August is the kind of work that the Group Theatre in the 1930's say they were aiming towards—but with hilarity and great jokes.

If it's true that the theater used to perform a civic role in society to make us think about ourselves, then The Receptionist does just that. It holds up a sweet and light mirror to us to reveal a brutal and ugly truth about how we live in the world (at least the 'we' that's privileged enough to see and participate in theater). It's brilliance is in its understatement and its subversive toying with our expectations of light comedy. It's probably the most political play I've ever seen that never overtly states anything. It requires an audience to fill in the meaning and that's what makes it powerfully theatrical. At the end of the play, everyone around me turned to their neighbor and started a discussion about what just happened. Some people were baffled, others jolted and shocked, and some just saddened by the truth of what it says about us. Go see it and then tell me what it's about—right here in this blog.

Comments

[JILL]

VJAY, I WAS THE FIRST ALLEN LEE HUGHES LIGHTING FELLOW. I JUST WANT TO SAY THAT U R RIGHT N SAYING U HAVE AN AMAZING OPPORTUNITY. I LEARNED ALOT FROM BROTHER ALLEN WHILE I WAS THERE AND I WANT TO SAY TO U WHAT HE SAID TO ME.....READ!! READ EVERYTHING SCRAP OF PAPER THAT COMES THROUGH UR HANDS AND LISTEN....TO EVERY WORD THAT PASSES UR EARS......WATCH, FOR ONLY BY WATCHING DO WE REALLY SEE.....HAVE FUN MY MAN.....