Osage county is a play written by tracy letts, which premiered at chicagos steppenwolf theatre in 2007 and was given a broadway showing shortly thereafter. For a dialogueheavy film with maybe 10 seconds of actual physical aggression, august. Osage county study guide contains a biography of tracy letts, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis. Osage county kicks off when the surviving members of the weston family convene for the funeral of beverly sam. Violets daughter ivy arrives first with violets sister mattie fae and her husband charlie. Osage county is a reflection of reality, then there are two types of husbands. Hodges captures violets vituperative nature, but allows a. Beverly weston, sixtynine years old violet weston, bevs wife, sixtyfive years,old barbara fordham, bev and violets daughter, fortysix years old bill fordham, her husband, fortynine. In the prologue, he and violet argue about hiring johnna, a young native american woman, for extra help around the house.
Osage county tells the tale of the dysfunctional westin clan, who all come together after the death of patriarch beverly weston sam shepard. Beverly weston, sixtynine years old violet weston, bevs wife, sixtyfive years,old barbara fordham, bev and violet s daughter, fortysix years old bill fordham, her husband, fortynine years old jean fordham, their daughter, fourteen years old. This thrilling new play by pulitzer prize finalist tracy letts bug, killer joe has been hailed by the new york times as hugely entertaining. Aug 01, 2014 trauma is a continuum of sorrow that ripples through generations of the weston family. Osage county opens with a prologue in which beverly weston hires johnna, a young native american woman, as a housekeeper and caregiver to his drugaddicted wife, violet. Meryl streep rules as the mother of all dysfunctional screen moms in the long awaited screen adaptation of the pulitzerwinning play august. Osage county is a dark comedy that doubles audiences in laughter one moment and then gasps them in shock the next moment without warning and without apology. It won the 2008 pulitzer prize for drama the play tells the story of the weston family, which is forced to reunite after the patriarch, oncefamous poet beverly weston, turns up dead from suicide. We are referring to johnna in this question, who is appointed by mr. Beverly clarifies that he does not drink because his wife takes pills, nor does she take pills because he drinksthe reasons they. The matriarch, violet, depressed and addicted to pain pills and truthtelling, is joined by her three daughters and. He won the tony award, drama desk award, and pulitzer prize for august. Osage county centers around the weston family, brought together after their patriarch, worldclass poet and alcoholic beverly weston, disappears. Osage county, the play written by tracy letts, concludes on a bleak note, with violet weston meryl streep, the storys chief antagonist and matriarch of the weston clan, left all alone by her daughters after a tumultuous visit.
The play ends with violet and johnna alone in the house. With meryl streep, dermot mulroney, julia roberts, juliette lewis. With resilient truth, letts shows how familial influences have both a positive and negative impact on an individuals mental, physical, and emotional health. Osage county audition material everyone will choose one monologue to present at the auditions no memorization necessary but be prepared to read the other one in your gender in case the directors request. Violet is beverlys wife, a strong but cutting woman who has been diagnosed with mouth cancer and is addicted to pain pills. Elsewhere in the house, beverlys wife violet can be heard muttering, cursing, and stumbling around. Osage county quotes below are all either spoken by barbara fordham or refer to barbara fordham. Character description, analysis and casting breakdown for violet weston from august. Shes the audience for beverlys opening monologue and its into her arms that violet falls at the plays end. Beverly weston, quoting eliot in a weary and eloquent opening monologue.
The play opens with beverly weston delivering a monologue about poetry. Meryl streep and nicole kidman reveal their real birth names the graham norton show bbc duration. It was the recipient of the 2008 pulitzer prize for drama. Tracy letts is an american playwright, screenwriter, and actor. Dps offers an extensive list of titles that includes many of the most significant plays of the past century. While much praise was given to the cast, the screenplay was praised by some and seen by others as too dark and. Perhaps much of it had to do with that humor and a sense that letts was playing games with the genre even as he hewed to its conventions. Violet lets her mostly negative opinions of her daughters love lives known loud and clear. A look at the lives of the strongwilled women of the weston family, whose paths have diverged until a family crisis brings them back to the oklahoma house they grew up in, and to the dysfunctional woman who raised them.
Osage county are disturbed, angry, and aggressively selfmedicated. Off of johnna s confused look, beverly explains that his wife takes pills, while he himself drinksthis is the bargain the two of them have struck. Beverlys monologue about violets pill addiction and his obsession with. Beverly weston as the housekeeper as well as the caretaker of his wife violet in tracy letts play august. It is produced by george clooney, grant heslov, jean doumanian, and steve traxler the film stars an ensemble cast consisting of meryl streep, julia roberts, ewan mcgregor, chris cooper, abigail breslin, benedict cumberbatch. Osage county by tracy letts theatre communications group violet i ever tell you the story of raymond qualls. Be prepared to read any of the gender specific parts. Having finally had enough, barbara realizes her mother is beyond help and leaves. Three ways the meryl streepjulia roberts film doesnt measure up to tracy letts play. Osage county is a 20 american tragicomedy film directed by john wells. Osage county opening in london, i decided to revisit the show in new york, to see how it was faring with its much heralded cast. Osage county study guide contains a biography of tracy letts, literature. I have indicated with line breaks where the author indicates paragraphs. Osage county johnna mccarthy tracy letts wrote his award winning play, august.
Thats not a unique feature of the movie version, of course. The play opens with beverly weston delivering a monologue about poetry and suicide, a foreshadowing of the events to come. This month, the observers rex reed assessed that whatever the film lacks, it makes up for in the scenes where violets family. Violet comes downstairs, hopped up on pills, as beverly tells johnna that he drinks and his. Violet, a middleaged mother, speaks of her childhood. Violet s missing husband, beverly weston appears briefly, only during the plays beginning. Winner of the 2008 pulitzer prize and tony award for best new play, august. New york theater december 25, 20 1 comment why does the first film starring both meryl streep and julia roberts, based on a play that won both five tony awards and the pulitzer prize for drama, wind up disappointing. Violet comes downstairs, hopped up on pills, as beverly tells johnna that he drinks and. Osage county join stageagent today and unlock amazing theatre resources and opportunities. Be prepared to read any of the gender specific parts in any of the scenes attached.
One of the last times i spoke with my father, we were talking about. Hodges captures violets vituperative nature, but allows a few cracks in her cantankerous facade. Violet weston meryl streep has cancer and a propensity for pills and alcohol. Osage county is one juicy show for good actors, and davis has assembled a gradea cast. Dramatists play service, one of the premier playlicensing and theatrical publishing agencies in the world, was formed in 1936 to foster national opportunities for playwrights by publishing affordable editions of their plays and handling the performance rights to these works.
Osage county had audiences riveted and critics raving. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one. He then interviews johnna, a young cheyenne woman, for the position of livein caregiver for his wife violet, who is addicted to painkillers after being diagnosed with mouth cancer. Aug 12, 2015 violet, the matriarch, is diagnosed with cancer. Barbara im very dutiful, mom, i call, i write, i send presents violet you do not write august 92112 final white draft 32. This weeks monologue monday is from the film august. The original cast was great, but the current cast is a testament to the plays durabity as a powerful modern drama with an unfashionably large cast, 3 hoursplus run time and two intermissions. The play premiered at the steppenwolf theatre in chicago on june 28, 2007, and closed on august 26, 2007. Trauma is a continuum of sorrow that ripples through generations of the weston family. Female this woman came to my rescue when one of my dear mothers many gentlemen friends was. August, osage county is a roller coaster with emotional moments, carefully.
But he had these beautiful cowboy boots, shiny chocolate leather. It was written by tracy letts and based on his pulitzer prizewinning eponymous play. Fresh from a thrilling, soldout run at chicagos tony awardwinning steppenwolf theatre, august. Dec 25, 20 for a dialogueheavy film with maybe 10 seconds of actual physical aggression, august. The matriarch, violet, depressed and addicted to pain pills and truthtelling, is joined by her three daughters and their problematic lovers, who harbor their. Osage county original, play, broadway opened in new york city dec 4, 2007 and played through jun 28, 2009. It had its broadway debut at the imperial theater on december 4, 2007, and the production transferred to the music box. Violets missing husband, beverly weston appears briefly, only during the plays beginning. Barbara tells violet to eat her fish, but violet refuses.
Osage county, based on his own personal experience. Osage county premiered at the toronto international film festival on september 9, 20, and was released in the united states on december 27, 20. Aug 05, 2015 meryl streep and nicole kidman reveal their real birth names the graham norton show bbc duration. For example, ivys the prettiest of the three girls, but violet claims she always looks like a schlub. A look at the lives of the strongwilled women of the weston family, whose paths have diverged until a family crisis brings them back to the midwest house they grew up in, and to the dysfunctional woman who raised them. The only woman pretty enough not to wear makeup was elizabeth taylor, and she wore a ton.
A conversation with meryl streep what is was like to play violet weston in august. Need help with act 3, scene 5 in tracy lettss august. Get everything you need to know about violet weston in august. Osage county falls into an uncanny valley between melodrama and camp, failing to achieve either heights of operatic feeling or flights of knowing parody.
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