Review: AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY at Istanbul State Theatre

Istanbul State Theatre has recently added August: Osage County to its repertoire as we approach to the end of 2017-2018 season. Considered as one of the greatest American plays of the recent years, August: Osage County, focuses on the Weston family, and in a way, the collapse of the American idealism.

The play starts with the disappearance of the patriarch, Beverly Weston. The whole family is summoned and the psychological carnage begins with the reunion. The characters start getting at each other and make the audience question the notion: 'family'. Is it something that is purely based on love as we are taught? Or is it just blood? Or is it something more complicated? Can it be both? There is only one sentence that comes to my mind when I question the notion: 'Home is where it hurts.'

Hidden reality is a grey spot. Once the light is in, there is no chance of going back to grey anymore. The only step can be forward, and that is darkness. At the beginning of the play, the matriarch Violet Weston's sister, Mattie Fae peels the tapes from the shadows, and lets the light in. By this move, she signals that 'everything that is concealed will be brought to light' very soon.

The very first thing that captures the attention is the running time. It is 2 hours and 15 minutes which means a great deal of the play is gone in this production: but with a good cause. Director Bilge Emin seems to have chosen to focus mainly on the complexity of this dysfunctional family. Some of the very 'American' scenes are taken out as well as the dialogues between less than three characters. The production presents us a big family portrait: a so called family, whose members share nothing but blood. The family makes one another bleed and bleed, especially Violet, who seems to 'survive' by the blood spills. Hulya Gulsen portrays her beautifully. Her Violet is wretched. She looks ruthless and strong yet miserable and weak. And you can see 'love' behind all these complicated and very strong characteristics. Her ability to show 'love' is the main thing that draws the Turkish audience in and relate to this amazing play.

Zeynep Kose plays Barbara, the eldest daughter who is the embodiment of the infamous Oscar Wilde quote: 'All women become like their mothers, that is their tragedy.'. Mine Tufekcioglu manages to make Mattie Fae her own. She also utters one of the greatest one-liners: 'Oh, she is not a lesbian!' which is clearly a reference to Violet's line 'Oh, it speaks!' and visibly an impro. I feel I must pay my respects to one of my favorites in the production Cem Surgit who plays Steve as well. He steals every scene he is in, brilliantly funny.

The scenic design is one of the greatests I have seen recently. The house seems to be speaking for itself and if you look carefully you can sense the decay. It sets the atmosphere before the actors walk in. The hair and the costume departments seem to be indulging the actors as well. I really must say those wigs are some of the bests I have ever seen.

August: Osage County is a brilliant production and definitely a must-see before the season ends.