Homecomings aren’t always sweet, especially when it was the inhabitants of that home you were trying to escape. A renowned tale of generational trauma and family secrets makes itself at home at ACT Hub in August: Osage County on 5-15 September.

Written by Tracy Letts in 2007, the play has won both a Tony Award and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Drawing from his own experiences, Letts explores the dynamics of a dysfunctional family.

“It’s a bit of a semi-autobiographical story for him, he has been inspired by the life that he led in Oklahoma,” says Crystal Mahon, actress. “He talked about how the lead characters, the mother and father, were inspired by his mother’s parents and the ongoing family drama and generational trauma that happened as a result of their very unhappy marriage.”

The Kingston theatre has been transformed into a rambling southern home in Pawhuska, Oklahoma, where the secrets that have remained unspoken are at boiling point. The patriarch, Beverly Weston, has disappeared, leaving his unwell, drug-addicted, and cruel wife, Violet, to call their daughters back home.

“The story revolves around unravelling the mystery basically of what happened to the father and also what happens to various members of the family as a result of their relationship deteriorating,” says Ms Mahon.

Boasting a three-hour run time, with three parts and two intervals, the dialogue-heavy production is one for theatre lovers, says Ms Mahon. Once you are seated and the players take the stage, she says that the story is enthralling and the revealing of secrets is so captivating that the time flies by. The powerful writing brings a beautiful realism to the interactions between the characters, says the actress.

“The audiences recognise in the stories that they see on stage, stories that have played out in their own lives and their own families. I would challenge anyone to go to it and not have a moment where they think ‘Wow, that’s my family around the dinner table at Christmas’,” says Ms Mahon.

Of the three sisters, only one stayed close to home to care for their parents, Ivy, the character Ms Mahon plays in this production. She says Ivy is the quietest and gentlest of the Weston sisters and a bit of a tragic figure.

“She stayed home to look after her ailing parents because there was no one else to do it. She’s been unlucky in love, she’s a librarian who works at the local university, she’s 44 and she hasn’t been able to find a man.”

Although she was the one child to remain close to the family home, Ivy’s mother doesn’t appreciate the sacrifice she has made and the unending support she provides.

“She leans on her heavily, but she also picks at her constantly, telling her she needs to wear makeup, her hair is straight, she looks like a lesbian and needs to wear dresses,” says Ms Mahon. “This poor character is trying to do the right thing all the time whilst being constantly undermined by the people she loves.”

The other siblings also carry their own burdens and traumas which they bring back into the home with them. The middle sibling in her own family, Ms Mahon says it is interesting the way that no matter how grown you are, when you are back in that family home, you slip into old patterns.

“You’re easily offended by each other because you’re remembering childhood issues and traumas and the way you were treated. Perhaps you don’t cut people a break in the same way you do in everyday life like you do with strangers.”

Ms Mahon believes that, despite how much you may love, respect, or adore your parents, there’s something about returning to the family home that can erode the life you’ve built for yourself.

“The family is that one relationship in your life that you cannot escape, even if you try to. A lot of people who come from a family of trauma try to leave their family behind, but it is really true that your family does drag you back in.”

Whether it is perceived guilt for failing as a sibling, spouse or parent, Ms Mahon says people are always trying to find a way to bring their family back together and succeed. This is what makes August: Osage County so real, it taps into that desire to do things differently, break cycles and generational trauma and the way it can fail.

“We try so hard not to do the things that we have identified that our parents got wrong, we try not to do that with our own children, or we try not to be that person and yet those family cycles tend to repeat over and over again.”

A chance for audiences to reflect on their family dynamics, Ms Mahon hopes that people will be able to make better choices than some of the characters in the play and know when enough is enough.

“When is the moment that you can truly be yourself, that you can leave thinking ‘This is working, I’ve got to leave my family behind, I’ve got to focus on myself.’”

Witness family secrets unravel in August: Osage County at ACT Hub on 5-15 September; acthub.com.au

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