Review: True West, Vaudeville Theatre starring Kit Harington and Johnny Flynn - quick fire dialogue and sharp comic timing
05/12/2018
Harington and Flynn prove themselves agile performers with quick-fire dialogue and sharp comic timing.
Kit Harington and Johnny Flynn in True West. Photo Marc Brenner.
Kit Harington is no doubt the star draw for True West but it is Johnny Flynn who is the star in this new production of Sam Shephard's play of fraternal tension.
Harington plays Austin, a screenwriter who is house-sitting for his mother in Southern California.
He is using the peace and quiet to work on a script and meet with film producer Saul (Donald Sage Mackay) when Lee (Flynn), his estranged older brother, turns up unexpectedly.
Unlikely siblings
The brothers couldn't be more different.
Austin is neatly dressed and groomed - almost nerdy looking - professional, patient and law-abiding, the urban, sanitized 'west' to Lee's 'wild'.
The latter has been living in the desert for two months, wears dirty jeans, drinks beer like it's an accessory and has a pilfering past which makes Austin nervous about loaning him his car.
While their mother's house presents a respectable, domestic backdrop, the ever-present chirrup of crickets and nighttime howls of coyotes press up against the windows.
Resentments escalate
Sibling rivalry, resentment, and jealousy escalate when the meeting with Saul takes an unexpected turn.
Harington and Flynn prove themselves agile performers with quick-fire dialogue and sharp comic timing.