Tracy Lett’s play gets rave reviews

Already a hit on Broadway and talked of as the first great American play of the 21st Century, August: Osage County, a drama set in a three-storey Oklahoma home that deals with a fractious family reunion, opened at the National Theatre on Wednesday night to a crop of four-star reviews.

Only Charles Spencer in the Daily Telegraph offered a note of caution. While it has earned its author Tracy Letts a Pulitzer Prize and the Tony Award for best play, Spencer said that he was not entirely persuaded that it was "the first indisputably great America play of the 21st century", claiming that rather than representing "a dark vision of dysfunctional American society today" it felt "more like good old American Gothic entertainment".

However, Times critic Benedict Nightingale had nothing but praise for the performances of the 13-strong cast, all of whom come from the Chicago-based Steppenwolf company, claiming that they would have had "Stanislavsky dancing round Red Square". He asked: "Could a British cast bring such commitment and conviction?"

The Guardian's critic Michael Billington was equally bowled over by the actors, particularly Deanna Dunagan (pictured right), who plays a drugged up widow, and Rondi Reed (left). However, he said that all of the actors "satisfy the hunger for big theatrical experiences".