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Courtesy None Too Fragile
As every woman knows and many men discover, you don't need testicles to have gigantic balls. For proof, look no further than the women in the current and stellar production of Sam Shepard's modern classic True West, now shredding the stage at None Too Fragile Theatre.
Director Sean Derry has recast this Cain and Abel story of two monumentally mismatched brothers into a confrontation between two sisters, who carry the boys' original (and now, we realize, somewhat androgynous) names of Lee and Austin. This switch isn't a first for this script—a New York production company opened what was unfortunately dubbed a "Chick True West" in 2004, only to have it shut down after a complaint lodged by the playwright's reps and the play's licensing company.
Perhaps things have changed in the intervening years. In any case, this version is now on view in Akron, and it is a thoroughly electrifying experience. Rachel Lee Kolis is the brash, untamed, thieving sister Lee. She is matched in intensity by Natalie Green in the role of sleek, urbane and sophisticated Austin, a successful screenwriter.
Austin is house sitting her dad's (another gender switch from the original) tidy home while he's in Alaska. She is wearing floor-length loungewear in the plant-bedecked kitchen while writing a new screenplay in preparation for an imminent meeting with her movie producer Saul (an excellent Brian Pedaci). Lee has recently returned from a sojourn in the desert, and she looks it—slouched in her grubby duds on the edge of the kitchen sink, sucking a can of beer with two more still in the six-pack plastic rings dangling from her other hand.
From there, Shepard's funny and deeply symbolic script takes the audience on a 90-minute ride that won't soon be forgotten. As Austin writes, Lee continually prowls, seldom using any of the furniture as intended and interrupting her sis with random stories and idle opinions (she doesn't like eating off souvenir dinner plates with decals of Idaho on them). Austin tolerates Lee, even giving in and loaning Lee her car, against her better judgment.
But after Saul arrives, brimming with compliments about Austin's latest work, Lee returns carrying a flat-screen TV she boosted from somebody's house. But instead of slinking into a corner, Lee butts aggressively into their conversation, pitching her own idea for a western movie. And she gets Saul's attention because it feels "true" and real, as opposed to Austin's more conventional approach.
The details of the ensuing proceedings are too rich, comical and ultimately terrifying to share here. Suffice to say that the multiple ideas in Shepard's play comes through with urgent clarity, including sibling rivalry, art vs. commerce, and the concept of the raw, untamed "American west" as a cowboy dream. These are revealed as imaginary constructs, double images that blur and reshape themselves at will.
Clearly, Green and Kolis are the linchpins of this production, and they perform yeo-woman work as their identities blend, then flip, then become violent. But as riveting as their physical confrontations are, the most compelling aspect of their performances is how they use each other to craft precise, laser-cut beats and mini-beats that, under Derry's sure-handed direction, make every quiet exchange—and even their silences—pulse with serious intent while simultaneously being hilarious.
Eventually, the set is left in the same kind of tatters as the sisters' relationship, with all options seemingly exhausted. And yet, there is still more to come until the audience is ejected from their presence, a bit dazed but thoroughly entertained and still in their grip.
True Fact: There may be nothing worse than bad live theater, but there is also nothing better than great live theater. You have no doubt experienced the former. Should you care to sample the latter, it awaits in True West at None Too Fragile Theater for a short while.
True West
Through February 25 at None Too Fragile Theatre, 732 W. Exchange St., Akron, nonetoofragile.com, 330-962-5547.
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