Possibly pure theatrical perfection at the Young Centre for the Performing Arts in Toronto
The thing you must understand about True West – playing at the Young Centre for the Performing Arts – is that director Nancy Palk likes toying with her audience. That’s how Sam Shepherd’s play lures you in: frivolous comedy, throwaway gags, cheap shots between ill-assorted siblings, one of them straight-laced and the other a freewheeler. The lines are clever enough, but there’s a degree of contempt: wasn’t The Odd Couple in their 2011 season? What gives?
But then, all of a sudden, just when you think you’ve got a handle on this show, a proverbial anvil lands on top of you, knocking the wind out and crushing your assumptions. I suppose that innocent jab from five minutes ago wasn’t so frivolous after all. Then another: wow, there was much more behind that remark than I realized. Then another, and another, each successive landing setting off a cascade of revision and rethinking. If that joke really meant this, then that must have meant…
And somewhere in the catwalk, you can just make out the director, cackling with glee as she prepares to throw the next one.
There’s a certain type of British farce: doors open and slam, an old man chases after a young woman, and everyone ends up dressed in someone else’s clothing. In writing 
