As actor Paul Dano slips into a Brooklyn coffee shop on a December morning, and his co-star Ethan Hawke enters gregariously a few minutes later, it seems a stroke of genius to cast them in the current revival of Sam Shepard鈥檚 True West. The two play disciplined screenwriter Austin and smooth-talking grifter Lee, the brothers orbiting each other like proverbial boxers in the ring, in the Roundabout Theatre Company revival at Broadway鈥檚 American Airlines Theatre.
Dano contains quietude; Hawke exudes restlessness. Dano speaks in short, decisive sentences; Hawke meanders aloud. Dano has never seen a production of True West; Hawke became an actor because he did.
But, both actors agree: True West is the kind of play you see because of its cast.
鈥淧art of plays living on is the actor鈥檚 interpretation,鈥� says Dano.
鈥淚t鈥檚 our job to say, by making it personal: What is it about this piece of literature that is relevant to your life right now?鈥� Hawke acknowledges. 鈥淭he only way to do it is to [show] that it鈥檚 relevant to our 濒颈惫别蝉.鈥�
Individual truisms are only the starting line. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not just Paul鈥檚 Austin or my Lee, it鈥檚 about the chemistry,鈥� Hawke says. 鈥淟earning about Austin鈥攚hat an amazing role it is in Paul鈥檚 hands鈥攊t allows me to be a different Lee in response to a different Austin.鈥�
For Dano, the beauty and the challenge of True West is the room for interpretation. Luckily, he has director James Macdonald and a Shepard expert at his side in Hawke, who has performed and directed Shepard鈥檚 work for decades and finds solace in the flexibility of the play. 鈥淲hat an audience is paying to see is actual creativity,鈥� Hawke says. 鈥淢aybe you cried last night and maybe you didn鈥檛. Any one of us could do anything on any given night.鈥�
Though the play reads very Cain and Abel, Hawke and Dano refuse to play archetypes; idiosyncrasy and authenticity reign. 鈥淚t is so much better to have nothing fake onstage,鈥� says Hawke, who summons that rock-and-roll, avant-garde DNA in Shepard鈥檚 work.
Read: ACTOR ETHAN HAWKE MAKES THE CASE FOR SAM SHEPARD鈥橲 GENIUS
Even if Shepard鈥檚 writing allowed for dishonesty, the longstanding friendship between these two men does not. 鈥淚 find it way more vulnerable to act in front of Ethan than a stranger because he knows me and the barometer of truth is just a little higher,鈥� says Dano.
These characters鈥攁nd these actors鈥攑ush each other to the limit. But the opportunity to bring Shepard鈥檚 work to a new generation of theatregoers is worth the toll.
鈥淚t鈥檚 so easy to do an OK production of True West 鈥檆ause the play鈥檚 that good,鈥� Hawke says. 鈥淭o interpret it at a high level is extremely difficult. This play is the manifestation of Sam鈥檚 art at its highest level.鈥�
True West plays Broadway's American Airlines Theatre (227 W 42nd Street between Seventh & Eighth Avenues) in a limited engagement run, with previews from December 27, an opening night January 24, and closing scheduled for March 17, 2019.
