TRUE WEST

by Shepard, Sam

In a suburban southern California house, Austin, an aspiring screenwriter, is busy writing a romantic screenplay for his producer Saul. Austin is plant-sitting for his mother while she is on holiday in Alaska, but his peace and quiet is broken by the arrival of his older brother Lee, in every way his opposite. Lee has been living rough in the desert, surviving by stealing and petty crime, and he persuades Saul that his screenplay is even better than Austin’s - an authentic, present day ‘true’ Western. The sibling rivalry increases as the roles are quickly reversed: Austin hits the bottle, turns to theft and dreams of a free life in the desert while Lee agonises over his script, and the neat, tidy house is turned into chaos - climaxing with the return home of their mother to find them locked into a desperate battle in the demolished kitchen.

“Shepard weilds language like a blunt instrument, and the confrontations of the brothers undoubtedly make for exciting, sometimes wildly funny theatre…a modern classic.” - Daily Telegraph