It’s a coincidence, probably, but there are three Pulitzer Prize-winning American dramas playing in Sydney right now. August: Osage County won its Pulitzer in 2008; Matthew Lopez’s The Inheritance (at the Seymour Centre) in 2016, and Lyn Nottage’s Sweat (Sydney Theatre Company) in 2017. We’re certainly spoiled for choice when it comes to Great American Plays of the 21st century.

Chicago’s Steppenwolf brought its original production of August: Osage County to Sydney in 2010, which wowed audience with its massive set and stellar performances from company (and Broadway) stars Deanna Dunagan and Amy Morton. Newtown’s venerable New Theatre staged the play in 2018, and did so very well with limited resources. There’s also the 2013 film starring Meryl Streep … The less said about that, the better.

Pamela Rabe in August: Osage County. Photo © Brett Boardman

Belvoir’s version immediately feels different. Realised on a minimally furnished set that looks like something assembled from salvage yards and op shops (a Bob Cousins design), this staging eschews domestic naturalism for something more liminal, more transitional. What is essentially a tragicomedy about a disintegrating family feels more like a microcosm of a...