True West (Masterplots II: Drama, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Sam Shepard
- First Published: 1981
- Type of Plot: Realism
- Time of Work: The 1980’s
- Setting: A suburb forty miles east of Los Angeles
- Principal Characters: Austin, Lee, Saul Kimmer, Mom
- Genres: Realism, Drama, Mythological literature
- Subjects: 1980’s, Los Angeles, Brothers, Reality, Creative process, Filmmaking or filmmakers, Suburban life, Westerns
- Locales: Los Angeles, CA
The Play
True West opens at night with both brothers in their mother’s kitchen, where all the action of the play will occur over three days. Crickets and occasional barks of coyotes can be heard. Austin, in charge of the house while their mother is vacationing in Alaska, tries to write at the kitchen table; Lee, having arrived unexpectedly after living for three months in the desert, drinks beer and talks. The brothers are opposites in dress and demeanor: While Austin, dressed in a cardigan and jeans, is the neat suburbanite, Lee, in soiled second-hand remnants,...
[The entire page is 2335 words long]
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