Philip Seymour Hoffman returns to Sydney Theatre Company to direct Wayne Blair and Brendan Cowell as two warring brothers going head-to-head in a showdown of wild west proportions. Sam Shepard's iconic True West is at Wharf 1 from 27 October, opening on 2 November at 8.00pm.
True West centres on the relationship between Austin (Brendan Cowell), an aspiring scriptwriter on the cusp of his first big break, and his brother Lee (Wayne Blair), a beer-guzzling drifter and petty thief who has been roaming the wild untamed plains of America's West. The pair meet up at their mother's Los Angeles home and when Hollywood bigshot producer Saul Kimmer (Alan Dukes) enters, sibling rivalry really escalates and the pair must face all the resentments they feel for each other.Wayne Blair's most recent work for Sydney Theatre Company was as a performer in Steven Soderbergh's Tot Mom and as director of David Williamson's The Removalists. Next year he collaborates with Stephen Page on STC's Bloodland. Brendan Cowell directed Nina Raine's Rabbit for the Company in 2008 and has appeared in The Recruit, The Shape of Things, Far Away, Dissident Goes Without Saying and Motel as well as heading up the Company's Wharf 2LOUD program 2006-2007. Brendan's debut novel, How It Feels, published by Picador Australia is released on 26 October 2010.
For Sydney Theatre Company, Philip Seymour Hoffman directed Andrew Upton's Riflemind as part of the 2007 Main Stage season and later for a London run for the Ambassador Theatre Group. For New York's LABrynth Theater Company he has directed The Last Days of Judas Iscariot, Our Lady of 121st Street, Jesus Hopped The 'A' Train and In Arabia, We'd All Be Kings.
Director: Philip Seymour Hoffman. Set Designer: Richard Roberts. Costume Designer: Alice Babidge.
Lighting Designer: Paul Jackson. Composer & Sound Designer Max Lyandvert.
Cast includes: Wayne Blair, Brendan Cowell, Alan Dukes.
Photo Credit: Walter McBride/Retna Ltd.
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