True Shepard at the Odyssey

Snarling into their beers and venting their frustrations on hapless household appliances, the feuding brothers of “True West” trade taunts, careers and even identities in their endless quest for illusory supremacy. The ferocity of their combat is matched only by its absurdity.

Raucous, menacing and savagely funny, Sam Shepard’s 1980 deconstruction of the American Dream has lost none of its edge in a superb revival from the Odyssey Theatre and Circus Theatricals. The co-production reunites actors Jack Stehlin (who also directs) and Casey Biggs, resurrecting the electrifying chemistry they brought to the long-running “Speed-the-Plow” at the Odyssey in 1997.

No real surprise there. Both plays pivot on the dynamics of domination, with the locus of power seesawing between two main characters against a Hollywood backdrop. Stehlin and Biggs know this territory well, and they navigate it with the kinetic assurance of performers at the top of their craft.

Where David Mamet’s plays focus on realistic mechanics of manipulation, Shepard’s work delves explicitly into unconscious motivations, opening the door to all manner of outrageous performance. Stehlin and Biggs seize the opportunity and run with it.

Sporting Elvis pompadour and sideburns, and flashing a blackened-tooth reptilian grin, Stehlin’s Lee practically slithers his way across the stage. A petty burglar and perpetual loser, Lee is the diametrical opposite of Biggs’ successful preppy screenwriter Austin, who’s been civilized to the point of emasculation.

But the veneers are only skin-deep. After Lee’s false bravado ingratiates him with an imperious movie producer (Rob Brownstein), the status reversal causes the brothers to trade personalities--an exchange enacted with pinpoint precision within the literal and symbolic house of their vacationing mother (Eve Brenner). Suffice it to say, in the totally committed, take-no-prisoners physicality of Stehlin’s staging, the ensuing destruction is more than metaphorical--a choreographed dismantling of the family with the rich olfactory accompaniment of burning toast.

Particularly impressive are the care and attention the actors have paid to the entire text, wresting complex, layered significance from every line without overstepping the scene’s dramatic boundaries. The futile search for authenticity (the “true” West that lies neither in Austin’s sanitized suburbia nor in Lee’s barren desert); the removal of the father (an unseen alcoholic); the debunking of the revered American cowboy as a hollow icon--rarely are Shepard’s signature themes illuminated with such impact and clarity.

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* “True West,” Odyssey Theatre, 2055 Sepulveda Blvd., West L.A. Wednesdays-Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 7 p.m., except April 22 and May 6, 2 p.m. only. Ends May 13. $19.50-23.50. (310) 477-2055. Running time: 2 hours, 5 minutes.