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Northern Iowan

The student news site of the University of Northern Iowa

Northern Iowan

The student news site of the University of Northern Iowa

Northern Iowan

Past comes back to bite

Capitalizing on its 2013 big screen adaption, Theatre UNI brings “August: Osage County” to life at Strayer-Wood Theatre.

Written by Tracy Letts, “August: Osage County” has won numerous awards since its publication in 2007, including Best Play at the 2008 Tony Awards for its dark and gritty portrayal of a dysfunctional family in rural Oklahoma.

After Beverly Weston, played by associate theater professor Richard Glockner, goes missing, the Weston daughters are forced to face their pill-popping mother, Violet, played by theater professor Cynthia Goatley. Violent and cruel, Violet digs up painful family affairs and reveals intimate secrets in order to maintain control of her quickly dissolving household.

As terrible truths emotionally break Barbara’s (senior theater major Chelsea Miller) younger sisters Ivy (junior theater major Beth Dehne) and Karen (senior theater major Olivia Frisch), she struggles to keep her head above water while dealing with the stresses of her parents, her dissolving marriage, her delinquent daughter and the ever growing tendencies of her mother bubbling up within her.

The cast is phenomenal across the board, but Goatley sucks the audience into the throws of the Weston family with her darkly realistic portrayal of Violet. It is apparent that Goatley put a lot of time and effort into researching and performing her role, as she behaves exactly like someone with a violent nature coupled with chemical dependence.

The two weakest performers are Miller and Dehne. Though both perform remarkably in high-tension scenes, they struggle to keep the harsh edge out of their voices during some quieter moments.

As appalling as the truth it tells is, “August: Osage County” reminds us that no matter how much we may want to escape our childhood, it will always affect us. Even after we put our feet down and tell ourselves the past is the past, it circles back around to haunt us.

Life is a constant battle against our inner demons, fighting the repetition of history, struggling to not become our parents. The show’s dark tones, dim lights and depressing atmosphere expertly mirror this message.

The set of the Weston’s three level house and deck is beautifully designed and detailed, with sharp angles and a gothic undertone. It’s dark, it’s messy and the actors fully use the set’s spaces. However, the four separate spaces on the bottom level are unconvincing. They would benefit from distinguishing markers such as differing elevations.

The lighting mimics typical light fixtures. In an attempt to maintain the show’s excellent reflection of reality, the characters mime turning on lights. Unfortunately, this backfires. It is one of the few reminders that what we are witnessing is theatrical, as the light switches aren’t really there.

The costume designs are perfect. They are modern and faithful to both the characters and the show’s somber atmosphere. Though all but the oldest generation is played by students in their 20s, the costumes successfully create two distinct generations.

Nearly all of the production qualities add to the realistic atmosphere of the production, though in one particular case, this is not a good thing. Several characters smoke non-tobacco cigarettes throughout the show, and the actors, unbelievably, actually light the cigarettes. This is unacceptable, as the audience is trapped and forced to breathe in the smoke.

It is appalling and disgusting that the director, Angie Toomsen, cares so much about convincing the audience the show is real that she fails to take the audience’s comfort and health into account. This is not a difficult situation to fix: the actors mime smoking marijuana; they should also mime smoking cigarettes.

Despite a few things that would make it better, “August: Osage County” utilizes a powerful script to create a powerful production with the help of Toomsen’s authoritative direction in this engaging and emotionally exhausting show.

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