August: Osage Country

Original title August: Osage County
Première 4. november 2021, Veliki oder MGL
The first Slovenian performance
Running time 3 hours 30 minutes. Two intermissions.

Director Janusz Kica
Translator Tina Mahkota
Dramaturg Petra Pogorevc
Set designer Karin Fritz
Costume designer Bjanka Adžić Ursulov
Language consultant Maja Cerar
Music selector Darja Hlavka Godina
Lighting designer Andrej Koležnik
Sound designer Sašo Dragaš
Assistant director Jure Srdinšek
Assistant dramaturgs Manca Lipoglavšek, Ula Talija Pollak

The song Space for Two by Jernej Gašperin was written for the character Little Charles.

Cast
Beverly Weston Boris Kerč
Violet Weston, Bev’s wife Judita Zidar
Barbara Fordham, Bev and Violet’s daughter Jana Zupančič
Bill Fordham, her husband Gregor Gruden
Jean Fordham, their daughter Klara Kuk
Ivy Weston, Bev and Violet’s daughter Tina Potočnik Vrhovnik
Karen Weston, Bev and Violet’s daughter Tjaša Železnik
Mattie Fae Aiken, Violet’s sister Nataša Tič Ralijan
Charlie Aiken, Mattie Fae’s husband Alojz Svete as guest
Mali Charles Aiken, Little Charles Aiken, their son Filip Samobor/Jernej Gašperin
Johnna Monevata, housekeeper Diana Kolenc as guest, Mojka Konča as guest
Steve Heidebrecht, Karen’s fiancé Gaber K. Trseglav
Sheriff Deon Gilbeau Tomo Tomšič

The sudden disappearance of Beverly, the patriarch of a family estate in Oklahoma, brings together three daughters, their partners and children, as well as other family members who gather around their mother, Violet. A sombre premonition dominates the beginning of the play, which turns out to be true. Beverly is found drowned, and all the clues indicate suicide. As the family members cope with their loss each in their own way, many old wounds are opened under the roof of what used to be a shared homestead. Violet, the domineering mother of Barbara, Ivy and Karen, is dying of throat cancer and is also addicted to prescription drugs and alcohol. As a result of traumatic family relationships, skeletons start falling out of closets, many harsh words are uttered, and family secrets are gradually exposed. Letts’s play is a tongue-in-cheek exploration of taboo subjects such as drug and alcohol addiction, the dysfunctionality of marriage, terminal illness, suicide and incest. The play is distinguished by brilliant dialogues and psychologically multi-layered characters, especially the female roles. The play August: Osage County by American playwright, screenwriter and actor Tracy Letts won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and a Tony Award in 2008. After premièring at the Steppenwolf Theatre in Chicago (2007) and later stagings on Broadway and in London, Letts’s text was adapted into a film (2013), directed by John Wells and starring Meryl Streep, Julia Roberts, Julianne Nicholson, Juliette Lewis, Sam Shepard, Benedict Cumberbatch and many others.