TRUE WEST Written by Sam Shepard Directed by Malcolm Kay 19 April - 25 May 2002 The Playhouse Victorian Arts Centre St Kilda Road, Melbourne In the kitchen of a California house owned by their mother, two brothers are experiencing an uneasy and increasingly violent reunion. Austin (David Tredinnick) is a diffident screenwriter, tapping out the screenplay which will bring him success in Hollywood, creator and consumer of American myths. Into this sanctuary bursts his younger sibling Lee (David Wenham), wanton desert- dweller and supposed embodiment of all that Austin both longs for and fears. Lee contemptuously dismisses Austin’s idea for a movie, all cliched love story, and proposes his own. It's a "true Western" about two cowboys who pursue each other through the wilderness of the Texas panhandle. The disparity between the men is thrown into sharp relief by the arrival of Saul (Ross Williams), a movie producer with plans for financing Austin’s script. Lee horns in on the deal by spinning Saul his idea for a movie, and a psychological struggle begins that challenges the idea of the West as a mythological place of escape and retreat. Austin and Lee are opposite in many ways, but part of each longs for the life of the other. For Austin it is Lee’s footloose existence; for Lee it's Austin’s vocation, being paid to make up dreams. Tredinnick’s Austin is the anchor of this production. He sidles around the blustering Lee in the early scenes, endlessly retreating and apologising. But when his passion is fired by the impossibly romantic prospect of escape into the desert, he is transformed. Austin’s childlike eagerness to prove himself the equal of his brother as a petty thief is both touching and grimly funny. Wenham as Lee is more problematic. With an unplaceable American accent and often incoherent mumble, Lee is a glowering, menacing presence. Lee is a symbol of the unpredictable forces of nature, buffeting the tame urban world embodied in Austin. Lost in the bluster somewhere is the fear that drives his anger. When he roars "I’m living out there because I can’t make it here!", the anguish of his confession falls flat. As wily producer Saul, Williams gives a controlled and funny performance, and Julia Blake in the tiny role of Mom is wickedly brittle. Despite the billing, however, it is Tredinnick that shines.