Sam Shepherd’s subject is, as always, the death and betrayal of the American Dream. Austin (Eugene O’Hare) is a screenwriter on the point of having a Hollywood breakthrough when his brother, Lee (Alex Ferns), a rootless loner and petty thief, who has been living in the desert, comes home after five years and ruins everything for him. The film producer drops his script in favour of a crappy verbal outline by Lee and then expects Austen, since Lee is illiterate, to write the first draft. The brothers play off each other, driving each other to insane violence. The second act is an orgy of destruction and involves the stage managers in a massive clean-up after each performance.
Shepard wrote this black comedy about double nature and what it feels like to be two-sided in 1980. The last time True West was revived in London twenty years ago Mark Rylance and Michael Rudko alternated the roles, visibly emphasising what Austin and Lee do in the play. They swap roles. Phillip Breen’s revival, which was originally seen at Glasgow’s Citizens Theatre, has a cinemascope look and, within its wide frame, Ferns and O’Hare keep a tight grip on the audience’s attention. Shepard wanted the sounds of Coyotes barking during the scene changes; but surely he didn’t want them as over-amplified as they are here?