Support the Free Press | Facts matter. Truth matters. Journalism matters
Salt Lake City Weekly has been Utah's source of independent news and in-depth journalism since 1984. Donate today to ensure the legacy continues.
Wasatch Theatre Company: True West
Thursday May 5-Saturday May 7 @ Rose Wagner Center
By Brandon Burt @brandontburt
Sam Shepard’s 1980 play about the complicated relationship between two brothers doesn’t deconstruct their knotty family ties so much as it entangles the audience within them. And so, ideally, it is staged with two quirky personalities juxtaposed in the lead roles: Philip Seymour Hoffman vs. John C. Reilly, say, or Gary Sinise vs. John Malkovich.
Locally, you couldn’t get a much quirkier juxtaposition than Jesse Peery as straitlaced screenwriter Austin vs. Lane Richins as dissipated black-sheep Lee. Peery’s vigorous stage presence (forcefully demonstrated in recent productions such as Utah Theatre Artists’ Burn This and Salt Lake Acting Company’s Six Degrees of Separation) ought to play nicely against Richins’ engaging warmth and vitality.
Other treats in store include Laurie Mecham as Mom, recently returned to the Salt Lake City stage from Portland, Ore., and Jared Greathouse as Saul Kimmer.
Wasatch Theatre Company’s True West @ Rose Wagner Center, 138 W. Broadway, 801-355-2787, May 5-21, Thursday-Saturday 8 p.m., with 2 p.m. Saturday matinees, $15. WasatchTheatre.org, ArtTix.org
More by Brandon Burt
-
FLASHBACK 2006: Brandon Burt's handy guide for the aspiring academic fraud
So You're Thinking of Becoming a Cheat
- Jul 8, 2024
- More »
Latest in Entertainment Picks
Readers also liked…
-
THE ESSENTIAL A&E PICKS FOR MAR 14 - 20
St. Patrick's Day, Bored Teachers Comedy Tour, Downy Doxey-Marshall: Bloom and Laura Sharp Wilson: Gilding the Lily: A Choreography , and more.
- Mar 13, 2024
