Sunday Herald Sun
Edition 1 - FIRST
SUN 28 APR 2002, Page 101 
Western with attitude 
By CATHERINE LAMBERT 

FANS of Diver Dan will be astounded to see David Wenham in this role.

He conveys a complex violence that is both an undertone and frighteningly explicit. It is a gripping, intense, menacing 
and courageous performance.

He plays a pathologically violent and criminal man, Lee, who has been wandering aimlessly through the desert before 
arriving at his mother's home.

There he finds his antithetical brother, Austin, played with great measure by David Tredinnick, who is writing a script.

Both men are the product of a violent father and ineffectual, dream-dazed mother (Julia Blake), but cope with their 
circumstances in different ways.

Austin is neat, ordered and ambitious while Lee is rampant and destructive.

It is never predictable, although a tragic end is inevitable.

Writer Sam Shepard's characters are finely drawn, definitive and very much alive. His comments on the American film 
industry's romanticism of the west could not be more clear.

The drama lapses into some hysteria in the second act but remains a powerful work with outstanding performances.

Special mention to Ross Williams for a faultless portrayal of the Hollywood producer Saul Kimmer.

THEATRE
True West
Fairfax Studio
****
The players
David Wenham, David Tredinnick, Ross Williams.
Behind the Scenes
Written by Sam Shepard and directed by Malcolm Keith Kay.
Keep your eye on
David Wenham.
In short: Menacing. 
Section:  CUE
Type:  Theatre Review +