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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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 World Literature Theater Feel-Good Funny

Go Behind the Scenes of True West

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Kit Harington
Johnny Flynn

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.

Sam Shepard
Matthew Dunster

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.

All stars
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A great storyline well acted out. Though was left still in need of more. Short, thrilling and fantastic.

Funtastic

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The characters yelled the entire time. The sound effects were off putting and disjointed. The twist at the end was fun, but it almost wasn't worth listening all the way through to get there. I think the only reason I finished it was because it was so short.

So much yelling

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I suppose if I had a bit more insight into the actual premise of this production it might have made a bit more sense. I enjoy the stage, but perhaps listening to the audio version of a production with no concept of the construct was not the best idea. The performance was interesting as was the audio production.

Interesting...

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Was hard to listen to the constant shouting and somewhat predictable just strange Was the 1st audio book I actually did not want to even listen to but made it through to the end

Cringe worthy

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It was a pretty good story but I’m not sure why they didn’t let the actors use their accents. Especially since this was a play the originally was produced in London.

Ok story

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The story was truly odd. the characters' actions were sometimes erratic and irrational beyond the point of explanation. The story is a simple Cain and Abel story, which would have been utter crap, were it not for 2 things. First, adding a "grass is always greener" element to Cain and Abel was a nice touch. Kit Harington did a pretty good job -- although there were times when his British accent showed. But Johnny Flynn was wonderful! Both of them are talented actors.

Great Voice actors, stupid plotline

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This was a complete waste of time, but it was short and free. The most charitable explanation of why I found True West not at all compelling despite the actors’ histrionics (necessary to carry an utterly unconvincing story line) is that drama is more than words; it’s also actions.

A more candid evaluation is that the script is yet another of those pretentious, self-indulgent explorations of the creative process so beloved of industry insiders (e.g. the film Birdman), but that somehow fall short of striking a resonant chord in a general audience. True West definitely strives to touch upon universal themes: sibling rivalry (Cain and Abel), the vicissitudes of fortune and role reversals, the search for meaning, etc. On stage, perhaps it might convince; in audio it fails miserably.

Stage fails to translate into audio

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It's kind of a weird story and a bit over acted for audio only. It was probably much better as a stage play.

Not a fan

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The narration was just aweful. I couldn't tell you about the book because I couldn't listen any longer.

Read this one yourself!

Couldn't get past the first chapter

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This is an odd piece. Two siblings in their moms home constantly at each other’s throats about a screen play that one of the brothers was working on and then the other decides to write his own screen play.

True west

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