'True West' lacks tension

RALEIGH -- When Sam Shepard's fictional mother comes home to find her grown sons fighting to the death, her nonchalance is supposed to seem odd.

But by this final scene in Hot Summer Nights at the Kennedy's production of Shepard's "True West," director Lauren Kennedy has pushed the bickering siblings to the boiling point so many times that even the audience is unlikely to be shocked by their actions.

Kennedy, a Broadway actress from Raleigh, made her directing debut with Hot Summer Nights' acclaimed production of the musical "Romance/Romance" last year. "True West" shows that her directing skills aren't yet as consistent as her acting.

Shepard's 1980 humor-laced drama uses a tense encounter between two dissimilar brothers in Southern California to explore eroded ideals, the arbitrarily shifting values of contemporary culture, and the empty promise that the West once held for early settlers and still holds for Hollywood dreamers. It ran on Broadway in 2000 and was adapted into a 2002 television movie starring Bruce Willis. The off-Broadway production with John Malkovich and Gary Sinise aired on public television in 1984.

Shepard's Austin is a straight-laced screenwriter on the verge of a sale. His brother, Lee, is an outcast criminal. Each is jealous of the other, and their sibling rivalry escalates when Lee steals the attentions of Austin's potential producer.

In casting the off-kilter Lee, Kennedy turned to someone whose work she knew well, Matt Bogart, her former boyfriend from college and a longtime friend. Bogart's brother, Daniel Bogart, plays Austin.

The siblings-as-siblings portrayals -- which Randy and Dennis Quaid did off-Broadway -- underscores the notion that the brothers could represent dueling aspects of a single personality. And the Bogarts' lifelong bond is evident on stage, despite their contrasting characters.

Daniel Bogart's Austin is the more convincing of the two characters. He has a subtle, intriguing way with physical expression, except in his drunken scene, which is played too much for laughs.

Matt Bogart is less interesting as Lee. The character needs an unpredictable edge, but Matt Bogart's outbursts feel unmotivated. And he moves too swiftly to physical and vocal extremes, leaving no room for a climactic escalation. His Lee also lacks menace, a crucial trait.

Austin's fickle producer, Saul (Vinny Genna), is less well-defined in Shepard's script. He's more of a plot device, as is the brothers' mother (Pauline Cobrda). Genna does an able job, as does Cobrda, though their timing was a bit off on opening night, slowing the spiraling plot.

Kennedy's use of Red Clay Ramblers recordings for scene changes furthers a Ramblers-Shepard link. The Ramblers wrote and performed the music for Shepard's off-Broadway "A Lie of the Mind" and his movie "Far North." But the generally lighthearted tunes further diminish the production's needed tension.

The show has its high points, including an awkward moment of bonding for the brothers. And the actors got some big laughs at Wednesday's opening night. But as with the failed dreams that Shepard explores in "True West," this production is an unfulfilled promise.