True West Audiobook By Sam Shepard cover art

True West

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True West

By: Sam Shepard
Narrated by: Kit Harington, Johnny Flynn
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About this listen

Kit Harington (Games of Thrones) and Johnny Flynn (Beast) smolder and burn as sparring brothers in Sam Shepard’s darkly comic 1980 drama. The Cain and Abel conflict is a showdown of sibling rivalry, to be sure, but also bears witness to a legacy of booze-fueled family brawls. As Harington and Flynn duel it out, they bring a cagey, wiry energy to director Matthew Dunster’s West End revival of this Pulitzer Prize finalist. The portrait of the estranged pair is a riveting study in contrasts as Harington’s successful screenwriter and Flynn’s scheming grifter explosively collide in the California desert. The scorched, arid setting is more than just a backdrop; its expanse and emptiness make it a palpable presence in a play about wounded masculinity and broken dreams.

The live theatre production of True West was performed at the Vaudeville Theatre in London, United Kingdom, in 2019. It was produced by Joseph Smith and John Brant for Smith & Brant Theatricals and James Bierman for Empire Street Productions.

Portions of this audio drama contain mature language and themes. Listener discretion is advised.

©2019 Sam Shepard (P)2019 AO Media LLC
Drama & Plays United States Feel-Good Funny
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Go Behind the Scenes of True West

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About the Performer

While still a student at London's Central School of Speech and Drama, Kit Harington was cast as Albert in the smash production of War Horse, performing the lead role at the National Theatre and and the New London Theatre, now known as the Gillian Lynne Theatre, in the West End. In 2011, he landed the breakthrough role of Jon Snow in HBO's Game of Thrones. The wildly popular fantasy series, which won a Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Drama Series in 2018, would bring him his first Emmy nomination for Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series, as well as nominations for several Screen Actors Guild Awards for Best Ensemble in a Drama. He has continued to perform in television, on film, and on the London stage, most notably as the title role in Dr. Faustus and Austin in True West, and on television and film. Kit's film credits include Testament of Youth, Spooks: The Greater Good, 7 Days in Hell, and How to Train Your Dragon 2 and How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World (as the voice of Eret).

About the Performer

Johnny Flynn is an actor, composer, and songwriter who has worked extensively across film, television, and theater. His film credits include Beast, Love Is Thicker Than Water, Clouds of Sils Maria, and Song One. On the stage, he has starred in Martin McDonagh’s hit Hangmen (both the West End and New York productions), Jerusalem (for which he received an Olivier Award nomination), The Low Road, Richard III, and Twelfth Night. On television, he has appeared in Vanity Fair, Genius: Einstein, Lovesick, Brotherhood, The Nightmare Worlds of H.G. Wells, and Detectorists. He has released five albums to date with his band Johnny Flynn & The Sussex Wit.

About the Playwright

Sam Shepard’s first New York plays, Cowboys and The Rock Garden, were produced by Theatre Genesis in 1964. For several seasons, he worked with Off-Off-Broadway theater groups including La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club and Caffe Cino. Eleven of his plays won Obie Awards, including Chicago, The Tooth of Crime, and Curse of the Starving Class. Other award-winning plays include Fool for Love, True West, A Lie of the Mind, and Buried Child, for which he won a Pulitzer Prize in 1979. In 1986, Shepard was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters and received the Gold Medal for Drama from the Academy in 1992. He was inducted into the Theater Hall of Fame two years later. As a writer and director, he filmed Far North and Silent Tongue. As an actor, he appeared in numerous films, including The Right Stuff, Days of Heaven, and Resurrection. His final works of prose, The One Inside and Spy of the First Person, were published in 2017, the year of his death.

Photograph by Brigitte Lacombe.

About the Director

Matthew Dunster is an Olivier-nominated director, playwright, and actor. He has directed more than 20 productions in the UK, including Martin McDonagh’s A Very Very Very Dark Matter at the Bridge Theatre, Love’s Sacrifice for the Royal Shakespeare Company, and The Seagull for Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre. He served as the Associate Director of Shakespeare’s Globe from 2015 to 2017 and the Associate Director of the Young Vic Theatre from 2005 to 2009. He was nominated twice for the Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in an Affiliate Theatre—once in 2006 for Dennis Kelly’s Love and Money, and then again in 2012 for his production of Vivienne Franzmann’s Mogadishu. His third Olivier nomination for Best Director came in 2016, for his production of Martin McDonagh’s critically acclaimed play, Hangmen. Dunster’s writing credits include Children’s Children, You Can See the Hills, and his reimagining of Hans Christian Andersen’s The Most Incredible Thing, a collaboration with the Pet Shop Boys and choreographer Javier De Frutos.

What listeners say about True West

Average customer ratings
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  • 3 out of 5 stars
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    1,367
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    1,379
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    1,991
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    1,669
  • 2 Stars
    1,489
  • 1 Stars
    2,354

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Whiny with lots of yelling and overacting

I thought I'd like it more with Kit Harrington and Sam Shepard but it was pretty dreadful. The story overflowed with angst and was a red hot mess. It resembled a dysfunctional Thanksgiving with too much cheap booze and no pie.

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12 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

The Prodical Brother

Not what I expected. The story was OK, just OK. Not up to the typical audible exclusive.

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10 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

what the hell was that?

Like being a fly on the wall for an argument between immature, unstable, bi-polar brothers because their mommy isn't home. ridiculous!

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

very loud and agitated characters

very loud and agitated characters

not very interesting plot
an hourand a half of shouting

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

True family life... dysfunctional

Story filled with some twist. Over dramatic but unfortunately a realistic reflection of a very dysfunctional family.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Eugh....

I really wanted to like this as I'm a fan of Kit Harrington. However, while listening to this was like being yelled and screamed at for an hour and a half. It was miserable. Glad this was free, because I wouldn't have paid to listen to this.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

West

Very dark. Not like listening to an audiobook , more like a multicast radio
production. In that vein the production is quite remarkable, but the story is unrelenting dark made even more so by the theatricality of the perfomance.

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

Weird.

that's it. just weird. the performances were good. the story--just weird. ending completely unsatisfying 🙄

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

not my kind of book.

I had a hard time with this book
it was not my kind of book.

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

I tried...so boring

so dull, 2 brothers arguing...couldn't do more than 30 minutes. I tried, really I did!

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