August: Osage County - Lessons learned from the play

Very hard hitting American family comedy-drama. Kind of bleak, but obviously this is an amazing play.

We learned a lot from it (and plenty that we can apply to DON'T LOOK DOWN). More on that on the next page.

​Written by Tracy Letts

This play is unrelenting in its portrayal of this cynical family, but that's kind of the point. That the thing that ties this family together is its ability to damage the other members, is the whole, cohesive unit of self-destructiveness. It's just all these people, grasping at straws for happiness. But because they're fucked up they're willing to make all these compromises. 

Some good moments: Ivy defending Little Charles, very subtly but noticeably, before we knew anything was up with them. Just like...laying the first track for that moment. 

Another thing, when I looked back at it, is this interesting little hint at the very beginning about Mattie Fae and Bev... "You had a date with him and you stood him up and sent your sister instead." And Mattie Fae has this whole long self-righteous speech about how she told her sister to kick Bev out after he went on a bender for a few days, but of course, it turns out Mattie Fae was fucking Bev and so this whole thing, in retrospect, was defensiveness.

Lesson: Write with intention, so that things work in the moment, but make even sense at the end, when you go back and see the subtext more clearly. Know where you are headed, and always write from inside the character who is speaking. Inside their secrets, resentments and life experience.

People act out of guilt and defensiveness a lot in this play, and that's a really good way to tell what a character feels about a certain action. Are they defensive? Do they lash out? Do they behave self-righteously or deflect?

The angrier something makes someone in this play, the more likely it is that the anger is coming from a place of personal doubt, self-loathing, or fear. Like, how Karen behaves with Steve and Barb. She just defends herself, just rages at Barb about judging her, but obviously she's hurt. It's like all these wounded animals running around and trying to bite other people.

Lesson: Let wounds lead to anger, and don't feel the need to explain. Remember that character decisions can be rooted in guilt and defensiveness. Those feelings are behind so many human behaviors and emotions in life, and that's why they work so well in scripts.

There's also a lot of pointed questions that make statements. Like, when Vi asks Steve how many times he's been married, it's such an insult to Karen and Karen's integrity, but on its face it's just a question. 

Lesson: Use pointed questions to make statements. 

Then, there's also the whole thing about the Mom's greed and the silverware and all of that, and no one ever fights with her about it. It's odd, her need for this money, this control, to have them all just believe that their father wanted this, and they all must know it's a lie. But it's just part of the family dynamic, and it's a building block to Barb's eventual freak out. It also sets up the later revelation that the mom knew about the impending suicide but wanted the money. What she really wants is control, is part of her life back, I think, but she's so out of touch with reality. Bev says at the beginning, she chose this reality instead -- so really what we see throughout it is Vi choosing to alienate and isolate herself. that's important. She could try to see her way out, but she does the opposite. We should think about that - how people do that, like Jesse Eisenberg in the spoils. 

Lesson: People act in self-destructive ways. Use that. 

The incest is kind of just a symbol of how no one can get away from the family. It's a reflection of the whole ugly beast. And it's ironic too because of what Ivy says about family just being accidental genes and all that. Like, her connection to little charles, the fact that her dad loved her the most... it's all kind of contrary to her idea that family, blood family, means nothing. It's really interesting to have a character who says the opposite of what the play is saying overall. "You can't escape family." And she's like, family is bullshit, but she's having sex with her brother. 

Lesson: Explore the theme from every angle. Defend it and attack it from all sides.

Also the playwright lets people just know secrets. Like, they already know, or they figure it out, without any fanfare. It makes everything flow very smoothly, when people are just like, "Is something going on here?" And it's a question, but clearly they're already figured it out. 

Lesson: You don't have to make a big deal out of family secrets. Let family members notice if someone is hiding something, or just come out with it. Helps with pacing and flow. 

Seeing the similarities in Barb and Vi is really important too. Like Barb is just exactly the same in so many ways, and it's THAT that she can't escape from, not the physical reality of the home in Osage County. I think we want to cultivate that with Nicole and Sally in DON'T LOOK DOWN -- this idea that mothers and daughters hate and love in such similar ways. 

LESSON: Let characters reflect each other when it makes sense. Especially consider this when it comes to parent/child relationships.

EXCUSES - people always making excuses for their behavior. Ivy, for running off with Little Charlie, Karen blaming jean for what happens with Steve, Vi, talking about her shitty childhood, clearly wanting some credit for not being THAT terrible to her daughters. Everybody just wants a little credit, a little wiggle room, but it's good to see other characters resist that. 

LESSON: Remember people's secret motives, justifications and reasons for who they are and why they do the things that they do. 

The really, really interesting point that I think we should keep in mind is that it's really, really hard to escape from dysfunction. It breeds dysfunction. It's hard to have your own, normal, happy life when you come from a place of chaos.

Even Ivy, who seems to be the most reserved, normal one, is just tricking herself into thinking she's found happiness. She's in a relationship where she has to maintain a very terrible lie in order to make it work, and we want to have that too-- dysfunction requires people to maintain lies to try and preserve some facsimile of happiness. Because when you come from a place like the Weston family, appearances matter so much. And if you can't have real happiness or normalcy, you want it to at least look like you do to the outside world. 

Lesson: Dysfunction requires people to maintain lies to try and preserve some facsimile of happiness. A great family drama attacks that house of cards, outing secrets and tension and resentments, until the truth is all that's left.

Notable Scene: The dinner scene uses little things to build tension leading to the major blow up. There's an issue about who sits at the kids table. Then there' s an issue because Little Charles dropped the beans. Then Steve takes a call during prayers. Then Viv attacks Steve about how many times he's been married, and we're off to the races. 

Lesson: Use little things to set the mood of a scene. Also, re-read this dinner scene every week. It's amazing. 

Use of the Outsider: Steve and Bill are both non-blood family and they are less familiar with the dynamics, so it's interesting to see how they related to Violet and the other family members. Also Violet attacks them as a way to attack her daughters, and that's interesting too. (Steve and his marriages, Bill and his infidelity...) Finally, these guys saying things that are meant to keep things a little light (Steve says OPAH! when the tray falls) in some ways work to continue to build tension. They are trying to lighten the mood, b/c they are reading it as tense., and the audience understands that and reacts accordingly. 

Lesson: Use "outsider" characters to indicate tension through the use of levity, and to generally give us an insight into what's going on, while acting as surrogates as the main family members in some key ways.