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True West
This American classic explores alternatives that might spring from the demented terrain of the California landscape. Sons of a desert dwelling alcoholic and a suburban wanderer clash over a film script. Austin, the achiever, is working on a script he has sold to producer Sal Kimmer when Lee, a demented petty thief, drops in. He pitches his own idea for a movie to Kimmer, who then wants Austin to junk his bleak, modern love story and write Lee's trashy Western tale.
71 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1981
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About the author
Sam Shepard
227 books665 followersSam Shepard was an American artist who worked as an award-winning playwright, writer and actor. His many written works are known for being frank and often absurd, as well as for having an authentic sense of the style and sensibility of the gritty modern American west. He was an actor of the stage and motion pictures; a director of stage and film; author of several books of short stories, essays, and memoirs; and a musician.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 601 reviews
April 10, 2019
I like Sam Shepard but I didn’t really care for this. The material was decent but I hated the acting/narration. It’s not really fun to listen to two guys yell at each other for an hour and a half. Disappointing.
February 7, 2020
"Go west, young man!"
The frontier! The gold rush! The promise of new life in the American imaginary had always (traditionally) been west, away from urbanity, academia, business. Making a new life! Let's forgot about Native Americans for a minute, that American Dream said, there is endless land and resources and possibilities for progress; and for awhile the fantasy seemed to come true for many.
"And then, by god, I was rich"--Willy's older brother who goes to Alaska to make his fortune, in Death of a Salesman.
I kind of think of this play in conjunction with Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (or any of his political campaign horror stories) by Hunter Thompson, a kind of unmasking of illusions on acid with guns firing. Shepard here depicts Austin, a Hollywood writer (with an Ivy League degree) and his drifter/thief brother as they meet together for the first time in six years. Austin is writing, meeting with a producer, his brother asking to borrow his car so he can break into homes in the neighborhood and steal tvs and appliances, such as microwave ovens and toasters.
When the producer arrives, the drifter bro floats a more marketable idea than his stuffy east coast bro could ever imagine, perfect for Hollywood. So the producer wants to do that project, no longer Austin's and suddenly we have a sort of comic Prince and the Pauper switch for the brothers, with Austin, out of a job, gets drunk and decides to break into several neighbors's houses t steal their. . . toasters! This absurd commentary makes it clear the True West is not the American Dream for either of them. Oh, and they bond over eating toast, the best moment in the play.
It's not a deep or particularly rich play, not one of the great plays of American theater, imo, but I enjoyed listening to the LA Theater Works production of it. It still resonates very much with the present age.
The frontier! The gold rush! The promise of new life in the American imaginary had always (traditionally) been west, away from urbanity, academia, business. Making a new life! Let's forgot about Native Americans for a minute, that American Dream said, there is endless land and resources and possibilities for progress; and for awhile the fantasy seemed to come true for many.
"And then, by god, I was rich"--Willy's older brother who goes to Alaska to make his fortune, in Death of a Salesman.
I kind of think of this play in conjunction with Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (or any of his political campaign horror stories) by Hunter Thompson, a kind of unmasking of illusions on acid with guns firing. Shepard here depicts Austin, a Hollywood writer (with an Ivy League degree) and his drifter/thief brother as they meet together for the first time in six years. Austin is writing, meeting with a producer, his brother asking to borrow his car so he can break into homes in the neighborhood and steal tvs and appliances, such as microwave ovens and toasters.
When the producer arrives, the drifter bro floats a more marketable idea than his stuffy east coast bro could ever imagine, perfect for Hollywood. So the producer wants to do that project, no longer Austin's and suddenly we have a sort of comic Prince and the Pauper switch for the brothers, with Austin, out of a job, gets drunk and decides to break into several neighbors's houses t steal their. . . toasters! This absurd commentary makes it clear the True West is not the American Dream for either of them. Oh, and they bond over eating toast, the best moment in the play.
It's not a deep or particularly rich play, not one of the great plays of American theater, imo, but I enjoyed listening to the LA Theater Works production of it. It still resonates very much with the present age.
March 3, 2011
Most creative use of toast. Ever.
May 12, 2024
True West is a story of brothers in conflict. Austin and Lee shout at each other, verbally sparing throughout the entirety of this short play. They air rivalries and resentments, slights and insecurities at high decibel levels as they compare and contrast the different life paths each has taken. A startling development with the producer Austin was meeting with dramatically turns the tables for the brothers, allowing the fraternal conflict to continue from a freshly different angle. Meanwhile, Shepherd skillfully sketched an entire backstory of dysfunctional family conflict with only a few strokes of the brother’s martial bantering.
Our culture’s go to symbol of fraternal conflict is Cain and Abel. Cain is the clear heavy of the story, but how often do we stop and wonder if Abel was an asshole too? Shepherd gives us a story where Cain and Abel are both assholes, their father Adam is a degenerate, toothless drunk, and mom Eve seems to be slipping fast toward dementia. It’s equal parts funny and tragic. It also probably couldn’t have been sustained if the play were any longer.
Our culture’s go to symbol of fraternal conflict is Cain and Abel. Cain is the clear heavy of the story, but how often do we stop and wonder if Abel was an asshole too? Shepherd gives us a story where Cain and Abel are both assholes, their father Adam is a degenerate, toothless drunk, and mom Eve seems to be slipping fast toward dementia. It’s equal parts funny and tragic. It also probably couldn’t have been sustained if the play were any longer.
June 30, 2025
I was expecting this to be a short book, but it's a play! And the audiobook I listened to was an audio recording of actors on stage, playing out the parts. It's so immersive because when a good joke lands, often you will hear the audience chuckle. The actors were amazing and the story, a one-room drama, is riveting because of the dynamic between the two protagonists.
I was really delighted with what I found here and I recommend it to people who like plays, one-room dramas, and family drama. There are worse ways you could spend an hour!
I borrowed an audiobook of True West by Sam Shepard from Libby. Libraries have to pay more than we do for digital copies! Be sure to only borrow what you can read!
I was really delighted with what I found here and I recommend it to people who like plays, one-room dramas, and family drama. There are worse ways you could spend an hour!
I borrowed an audiobook of True West by Sam Shepard from Libby. Libraries have to pay more than we do for digital copies! Be sure to only borrow what you can read!
November 10, 2010
Holy crap! This play is NOTHING but character development! Two brothers in a kitchen (and connected alcove) for 9 Scenes, talking, and somehow it's completely engrossing. While satirizing the Western genre, the play raises all kinds of questions about family, independence, rural and urban lifestyles and doesn't try to answer them conclusively, which is refreshing. This is like the anti-"Pericles." In 30-40(?) pages, I felt like I could write a 10 page paper on this play easily. After all 140 pages of Pericles, I struggled to get out a page and a half. While "True West" is predominantly dramatic, the comedic parts are incredibly effective. Their sparsity makes them even funnier.
Awesome stuff!
Awesome stuff!
September 15, 2016
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07tq923Description: Sam Shepard's examination of the relationship and rivalry between two brothers - Austin, a screenwriter, and his older, estranged brother, Lee. Starring the Glenister brothers.
The drama is set in the kitchen of their mother's home, 40 miles east of Los Angeles. Austin is house-sitting while their mother is in Alaska, and is confronted there by his brother, who decides to pay a visit. Lee manages to bully his way into the house and to borrow his brother's car. The screenplay Austin is writing and about to pitch to a Hollywood producer somehow gets taken over by the pushy con-man tactics of Lee and the brothers have no choice but to co-operate in the writing of a story that will make or break both their lives. In the process, the sibling rivalry comes to a head and their roles as successful family man and nomadic drifter are somehow reversed as each man finds himself admitting that he had somehow always wished he were in the other's shoes.
Robert Glenister and Philip Glenister come together professionally for the first time in their careers and the result is an incredibly powerful and poignant listen.
February 3, 2018
Αυτό είναι το πρώτο θεατρικό έργο του Σαμ Σέπαρντ που διαβάζω, μιας και τα άλλα τρία βιβλία του που απόλαυσα το 2015 και το 2017, ήταν συλλογές με ιστορίες και κείμενα. Εδώ έχουμε να κάνουμε με ένα αρκετά ιδιαίτερο και ενδιαφέρον θεατρικό έργο, ρεαλιστικό, ωμό και σκληρό, μπορεί να πει κανείς ακόμα και κωμικό, σε ορισμένα σημεία. Πρωταγωνιστούν δυο αδερφοί, με τον ένα να είναι ένας σπουδαγμένος σεναριογράφος που προσπαθεί να πιάσει την καλή γράφοντας ένα δυνατό σενάριο, και τον άλλο να είναι ένας περιπλανώμενος σύγχρονος καουμπόι και κάπως αγροίκος, ο οποίος ίσα που τα βγάζει πέρα. Αυτοί οι δυο θα βρεθούν για λίγες μέρες στο σπίτι της μητέρας τους, και εκεί θα γίνει μια περίεργη αναμέτρηση. Αρκετά θέματα θίγονται, όπως ο σύγχρονος και ο παλιός τρόπος ζωής, η σχέση δυο αδερφών, το τέλος της λεγόμενης “Άγριας Δύσης”, και πάει λέγοντας. Σίγουρα δεν είναι για όλα τα γούστα, αλλά προσωπικά μου έκανε πολύ καλή εντύπωση. Κάτι στους διαλόγους και το όλο σκηνικό με κράτησε στην τσίτα καθ’όλη τη διάρκεια της ανάγνωσης. Πολύ ευχαρίστως θα έβλεπα μια προσεγμένη μεταφορά του έργου αυτού στο σανίδι.
April 24, 2020
کتاب خیلی من رو یادِ پاریس، تگزاس انداخت و از اونجایی که خیلی طرفدار فیلم پاریس، تگزاس هستم، این کتاب رو هم پسندیدم.
اما اون چیزی که تو این نمایشنامه بیشتر ازش خوشم اومد، سیر تحول شخصیتها و جابهجاییِ تدریجی اونها بود که توی نمایشنامهای به این کوتاهی، واقعاً جالب بود.
اما اون چیزی که تو این نمایشنامه بیشتر ازش خوشم اومد، سیر تحول شخصیتها و جابهجاییِ تدریجی اونها بود که توی نمایشنامهای به این کوتاهی، واقعاً جالب بود.
October 16, 2012
What the hell did I just read?
March 8, 2015
Shepard, a true legend. Actor, author, dramaturge. He was with Patti Smith, Jessica Lange. We discovered his play at the same time we saw "Right stuff". It was a revelation. Shepard attacks with the myth of the cowboy, emblematic of the American culture. This n' is not a demolition. He gives to the cowboy an human dimension. By reading the play, I find the same emotion than when I was at the theatre.
April 4, 2019
Well that was a fun drive to wor this morning listening to this.. fun story and Kit Harrington 😍
June 22, 2014
نمایشنامه غرب حقیقی،اثر سم شپارد از 9 پرده تشکیل شده که تمام آن ها یک طراحی به خصوص (مانند دیگر آثار شپرد معمولا یک خانه کلبه مانند با وسایل ساده) دارد،اتاقی که در یک سوی آن آشپزخانه و در سویی دیگر آلاچیقی بدون در قرار گرفته است. در هشت صحنه اول فقط دو نقش لی(برادر بزرگ) و آستین (برادر کوچک) در نما حضور دارند.در یکی از پرده ها،سول کیمر(تهیه کننده برنامه ها تلویزیونی) نیز وارد صحنه می شود.در پرده نهم،مادر وارد شده و پس از گفتگویی کوتاه با دو برادر،آن را ترک می کند.در مورد نقش ها،آستین یک فیلمنامه نویس موفق و ثروتمند است،تشکیل خانواده داده و فرزندی نیز دارد.برادر بزرگتر،لی،یک دائم الخمر بیکار است که از راه دزدی روزگار می گذراند.مدتی را در بیابان به تنهایی سپری کرده است.شخصیت پردازی لی بس��ار خوب و در مورد آستین معمولی است،اما این امر در مورد مادر به پایین ترین حد ممکن می رسد.به نحوی که اگر نقش مادر در نمایشنامه وجود نداشت،نه تنها چیز ی از قلم نمی افتاد،بلکه یک ضعف بزرگ نیز از میان برداشته می شد.اما به نظر می رسد برای شپارد قرار دادن نقش مادر در نمایشنامه ضروریت داشته است، زیرا قصد وی خلق اثری دیگر در ژانر "تراژدی خانوادگی" است.در میان دیالوگ ها،از پدری دائم الخمر صحبت می شود که در بیابان زندگی می کند.این موضوع،در کنار نقش مادر و برادرها،نمایشنامه تراژدیک شپارد را کامل می کند.نمایشنامه با مکالمه برادرها در خانه مادر آغاز می شود (مادر برای سفر به آلاسکا رفته است،در تضاد با پدری که به بیابان فرار کرده)،سپس ملاقات برادرها با سول کیمر،رد فیلمنامه عاشقانه و عامه پسند برادر تحصیلکرده و مورد اقبال قرار گردن فیلمنامه وسترن برادر بزرگتر،لی اتفاق می افتد و نمایشنامه با به استیصال رسیدن آستین و درخواست از لی جهت رفتن به بیابان ادامه پیدا می کند.در نهایت در پرده آخر،دو برادر با یکدگیر درگیری شدید پیدا کرده و نمایشنامه در حالی به پایان می رسد که دو برادر پس از نزاعی خونین،رو در روی یکدیگر ایستاده و گرگ ها در زمینه زوزه می کشند و این است،غرب حقیقی.در واقع آغاز و عنوان نمایشنامه(در کلام)،سر آغازی بر پایان آن (در مفهوم و نماد)است.برای درک زیبایی غرب حقیقی،باید فیلمنامه "پاریس تگزاس" را پیش از خواندن این نمایشنامه مطالعه کرد.غرب حقیقی و پاریس تگزاس،ارتباط تنگاتنگی با یکدیگر دارند.دو برادر در غرب حقیقی،یادآور دو برادر در پاریس تگزاس هستند.تراویس،برادر بزرگتر در پاریس تگزاس مانند لی،مدت ها بیابان گردی کرده است.در غرب حقیقی،آستین فیلمنامه ای عاشقانه نوشته است و لی فیلمنامه ای وسترن و خشن.پاریس تگزاس نیز جدا از نام یک مکان ،یک نماد است.پاریس نماد احساس ، عاطفه و عشق و تگزاس نماد خشونت و بی رحمی.سم شپارد در خلق شاهکاری پرمعنا از هیچ یک نابغه است.مطمئنا کسی که فیلم پاریس تگزاس (کارگردان: ویم وندرس/محصول سال ۱۹۸۴ آلمان غربی و فرانسه) را دیده باشد و اندک آشنایی ای با آثار شپارد داشته باشد با من هم نظر خواهد بود
image:
نمایی از فیلم پاریس تگزاس
image:
نمایی از فیلم پاریس تگزاس
January 18, 2018
From realistic family drama to absurd family weirdness, True West is, at least, compelling. Brothers Leo and Austin play out their rivalry over screenwriting, toaster theft and desert living -- three unforgiving pursuits -- while trying to one up each other, kill each other and (maybe?) love each other for two fascinating acts.
It has the makings of a fun performance, but it reveals one of the sadnesses of reading theatre before seeing it staged because it lies dead on the page and there is no one other than the voices in my mind (and occasionally mouth) to really connect me to the action.
Were I watching actors on the stage the first time I was seeing this play, I think I would have been impressed with the absurdity and pain, but reading it without a physical manifestation just made me disdain Leo and Austin and Saul and their whack-a-doo Mom.
Yet I recognize the importance of absurdity, the importance of seeing people do stupid things because they are stupid, the importance of unrealistic actions in the face of personal pain.
I have a feeling that watching this -- with the right actors in the right roles --would make me love Sam Shepard's magnum opus, but reading the words only ... it left me cold as a desert night.
It has the makings of a fun performance, but it reveals one of the sadnesses of reading theatre before seeing it staged because it lies dead on the page and there is no one other than the voices in my mind (and occasionally mouth) to really connect me to the action.
Were I watching actors on the stage the first time I was seeing this play, I think I would have been impressed with the absurdity and pain, but reading it without a physical manifestation just made me disdain Leo and Austin and Saul and their whack-a-doo Mom.
Yet I recognize the importance of absurdity, the importance of seeing people do stupid things because they are stupid, the importance of unrealistic actions in the face of personal pain.
I have a feeling that watching this -- with the right actors in the right roles --would make me love Sam Shepard's magnum opus, but reading the words only ... it left me cold as a desert night.
May 5, 2019
No.
Pbbbbbbbbt.
No.
I can drive a couple towns over to the prison housing, roll down my window, and write down verbatim the screaming arguments drifting over the evening breeze. I'd have something pretty much identical to this book. Life imitating art imitating life taken too far.
I'd rate this book a PG-13 for some violence and swearing.
Pbbbbbbbbt.
No.
I can drive a couple towns over to the prison housing, roll down my window, and write down verbatim the screaming arguments drifting over the evening breeze. I'd have something pretty much identical to this book. Life imitating art imitating life taken too far.
I'd rate this book a PG-13 for some violence and swearing.
July 12, 2015
نه که بگم بدم اومد، ولی فقط، ایت واز اوکی.
March 23, 2009
Notes on Sound
"The Coyote of Southern California has a distinct yapping, dog-like bark, similar to a Hyena. This yapping grows more intense and maniacal as the pack grows in numbers, which is usually the case when they lure, and kill pets from suburban yards. The sense of growing frenzy in the pack should be felt in the background, particularly in scenes 7 and 8. In any case, these Coyotes never make the long, mournful. solitary howl of the Hollywood stereotype.
The sound of Crickets can speak for itself.
These sounds should also be treated realistically even though they sometimes grow in volume and numbers."
"The Coyote of Southern California has a distinct yapping, dog-like bark, similar to a Hyena. This yapping grows more intense and maniacal as the pack grows in numbers, which is usually the case when they lure, and kill pets from suburban yards. The sense of growing frenzy in the pack should be felt in the background, particularly in scenes 7 and 8. In any case, these Coyotes never make the long, mournful. solitary howl of the Hollywood stereotype.
The sound of Crickets can speak for itself.
These sounds should also be treated realistically even though they sometimes grow in volume and numbers."
October 14, 2019
TRUE WEST is all about the characters and nothing else. I loved listening!
It was short, it was uncomplicated, and a lot of family background was revealed in what essentially turns out to be several scenes of two brothers arguing.
Thanks to Audible Audio for the free "Original."
Read 10.12.19-10.14.19
It was short, it was uncomplicated, and a lot of family background was revealed in what essentially turns out to be several scenes of two brothers arguing.
Thanks to Audible Audio for the free "Original."
Read 10.12.19-10.14.19
March 17, 2022
Authenticity. Authorship. Brotherhood. Coyotes.
May 19, 2019
I've heard Shepard's plays celebrated for as long as I have been aware of theater and playwrites. I have never read one until now. It is hard to shake the impression that this was just page after page of two brothers yelling at each other. It gets tiresome after a while, that in spite of the fact that this is a short play.
It seems to me like it is almost certainly a retelling of the biblical Cain and Abel story. Two brothers of wildly different temperaments find themselves in their mother's home while she is away. Their lives have traveled very different paths and made them very different people. As the play progresses, in the space of a few days, their roles and temperament and outlooks slowly reverse. Where they actually always the same underneath it all and never knew it? Do fortunes determine who we really are and what we can become? These are some of the questions asked and pondered in this play.
The ending seemed much too strong and ultimately unfitting to the story. I assume it's the problem of fitting a thousands of years old story with strong mythic elements into a modern setting. The play ultimately didn't really speak to me and the issues it raised didn't seem well explored due to the dynamic between the two brothers.
Three stars, however, because while it didn't speak to me, it is clearly well written. Shepard deserves his reputation. I think the resolution and the inability of the format to explore the questions he raises are the most serious flaws on an objective level.
It seems to me like it is almost certainly a retelling of the biblical Cain and Abel story. Two brothers of wildly different temperaments find themselves in their mother's home while she is away. Their lives have traveled very different paths and made them very different people. As the play progresses, in the space of a few days, their roles and temperament and outlooks slowly reverse. Where they actually always the same underneath it all and never knew it? Do fortunes determine who we really are and what we can become? These are some of the questions asked and pondered in this play.
The ending seemed much too strong and ultimately unfitting to the story. I assume it's the problem of fitting a thousands of years old story with strong mythic elements into a modern setting. The play ultimately didn't really speak to me and the issues it raised didn't seem well explored due to the dynamic between the two brothers.
Three stars, however, because while it didn't speak to me, it is clearly well written. Shepard deserves his reputation. I think the resolution and the inability of the format to explore the questions he raises are the most serious flaws on an objective level.
January 12, 2018
I'm still trying to let this beautiful play settle in my mind, but one of my resolutions this year is to immediately review everything I read. SO! Here are my initial, somewhat (very) rambling thoughts (trying to keep this vague enough that I don't have to cut it for spoilers):
1. Toast. I may never look at toast the same way.
2. Brothers/family. The play's treatment of the brothers' relationship was raw and intense. Their somewhat-but-not-quite Cain and Abel rapport was handled in a visceral and intelligent manner.
3. Writers. There some moments when Austin drunkenly discussed writing/the writer that hit a nerve with me.
4. The American West. One of the key themes here was the chipping away at the romanticized image of the American West and the cowboy. Nicely done/
5. That ending. Raw, beautiful.
I've decided that Sam Shepard had my sense of humor, by the way. This is the second play of his I've read, and I love his mind.
1. Toast. I may never look at toast the same way.
2. Brothers/family. The play's treatment of the brothers' relationship was raw and intense. Their somewhat-but-not-quite Cain and Abel rapport was handled in a visceral and intelligent manner.
3. Writers. There some moments when Austin drunkenly discussed writing/the writer that hit a nerve with me.
4. The American West. One of the key themes here was the chipping away at the romanticized image of the American West and the cowboy. Nicely done/
5. That ending. Raw, beautiful.
I've decided that Sam Shepard had my sense of humor, by the way. This is the second play of his I've read, and I love his mind.
December 24, 2011
نمایشنامه خوندن تو سفر خیلی بهم میچسبه و این رو هم تو جاده خوندم و هنوز نصف راه رفت رو هم نرفته بودیم که تموم شد. از سم شپارد قبلن داستان کوتاههای خواب خوب بهشت رو خونده بودم و حالا با خوندن این نمایشنامه بیشتر ازش خوشم اومد و راغب شدم برم سراغ چیزای دیگهای که ازش چاپ شده
June 29, 2019
A fairly entertaining Audible Original.
May 8, 2019
Very bad
October 7, 2021
Owes much to Miller and his mid-century American cultural setting but ultimately and slyly Greek in origin. The paradoxical nature of both characters, their propensity to swing the pendulum from madness to bliss, from order to chaos, from some intense euphoria to some transitory insanity, proves an intriguing connection with the model of ancient Dionysian rites. What makes humans shift so quickly from love to hatred? The play prompts a good discussion of the question.
September 24, 2016
From BBC Radio 4 - Drama:
Sam Shepard's examination of the relationship and rivalry between two brothers - Austin, a screenwriter, and his older, estranged brother, Lee. Starring the Glenister brothers.
The drama is set in the kitchen of their mother's home, 40 miles east of Los Angeles. Austin is house-sitting while their mother is in Alaska, and is confronted there by his brother, who decides to pay a visit. Lee manages to bully his way into the house and to borrow his brother's car. The screenplay Austin is writing and about to pitch to a Hollywood producer somehow gets taken over by the pushy con-man tactics of Lee and the brothers have no choice but to co-operate in the writing of a story that will make or break both their lives. In the process, the sibling rivalry comes to a head and their roles as successful family man and nomadic drifter are somehow reversed as each man finds himself admitting that he had somehow always wished he were in the other's shoes.
Robert Glenister and Philip Glenister come together professionally for the first time in their careers and the result is an incredibly powerful and poignant listen.
Adapted for Radio by John Peacock
Director: Celia de Wolff
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07tq923
Sam Shepard's examination of the relationship and rivalry between two brothers - Austin, a screenwriter, and his older, estranged brother, Lee. Starring the Glenister brothers.
The drama is set in the kitchen of their mother's home, 40 miles east of Los Angeles. Austin is house-sitting while their mother is in Alaska, and is confronted there by his brother, who decides to pay a visit. Lee manages to bully his way into the house and to borrow his brother's car. The screenplay Austin is writing and about to pitch to a Hollywood producer somehow gets taken over by the pushy con-man tactics of Lee and the brothers have no choice but to co-operate in the writing of a story that will make or break both their lives. In the process, the sibling rivalry comes to a head and their roles as successful family man and nomadic drifter are somehow reversed as each man finds himself admitting that he had somehow always wished he were in the other's shoes.
Robert Glenister and Philip Glenister come together professionally for the first time in their careers and the result is an incredibly powerful and poignant listen.
Adapted for Radio by John Peacock
Director: Celia de Wolff
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07tq923
July 6, 2016
Why does the Pulitzer Committee like Sam Shepard so much?
This is the third play of his that I’ve read, and I didn’t much enjoy any of them. Maybe I’m missing something. Maybe his plays are genius, and I’m simply too much of a rube to appreciate them.
As for True West, the tale of two brothers, I started out liking it. Yes, it was yet another dysfunctional family drama, but the promise of an examination of the relationship between siblings, of how siblings can grow up in the same house and end up in drastically different places, fascinates me.
I actually think Sam Shepard is pretty good with ideas. It’s the execution where he falters.
Like the other Sam Shepard plays I’ve read, True West jumped the rails and went for melodramatic, over-the-top nuttiness that robbed the play of any and all resonance.
From an artistic standpoint, I can appreciate what Mr. Shepard wanted to achieve. From a theatrical standpoint, I’d rather not see this experiment on stage. Not recommended.
This is the third play of his that I’ve read, and I didn’t much enjoy any of them. Maybe I’m missing something. Maybe his plays are genius, and I’m simply too much of a rube to appreciate them.
As for True West, the tale of two brothers, I started out liking it. Yes, it was yet another dysfunctional family drama, but the promise of an examination of the relationship between siblings, of how siblings can grow up in the same house and end up in drastically different places, fascinates me.
I actually think Sam Shepard is pretty good with ideas. It’s the execution where he falters.
Like the other Sam Shepard plays I’ve read, True West jumped the rails and went for melodramatic, over-the-top nuttiness that robbed the play of any and all resonance.
From an artistic standpoint, I can appreciate what Mr. Shepard wanted to achieve. From a theatrical standpoint, I’d rather not see this experiment on stage. Not recommended.
March 12, 2013
Raw, brutal, intense - no warm fuzzies here. I really want to see/experience this play in the flesh though- there are several scene that just itch for live performance... at the very least I want to see the line-up of toasters. And the final scenes are visceral in their intensity. I think I have to take a shower now.
October 7, 2020
Catching this on TV one afternoon did some crazy things to my 14 year old mind.
And it still holds up:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HGJ7-...
Read
May 4, 2020...interesting. Kind of. I know you shouldn't just read plays, so maybe this would make more sense if I saw it. Kinda depressing, but that's just what you should expect from a lot of classics. This was my final read for my Honors American Lit class, and it wasn't too bad. But I didn't really like it.
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