Tuesday, June 10, 2008

One for the ages

Here are the ages of the characters in August: Osage County. The story takes place in August, 2007. I'm surprised that Violet is only supposed to be 65. Given Barbara's references to the Greatest Generation, I imagined her mother being a little older, growing up in the 1930s and 1940s, not the 1940s and 1950s. But apparently, 65 is the age that playwright Tracy Letts had in mind.

Beverly Weston, 69
Violet Weston, Bev's wife, 65

Barbara Fordham, Bev and Violet's daughter, 46
Bill Fordham, her husband, 49
Jean Fordham, their daughter, 14

Ivy Weston, Bev and Violet's daughter, 44

Karen Weston, Bev and Violet's daughter, 40

Mattie Fae Aiken, Violet's sister, 57
Charlie Aiken, her husband, 60
Little Charles Aiken, their son, 37

Johnna Montevata, housekeeper, 26
Steve Heidbrecht, Karen's fiance, 50
Sherrif Deon Gilbeau, 47

2 comments:

Sarah B. Roberts said...

I think Barbara only makes the comment about "the greatest generation" to make a point, not necessarily to mean that her own parents are of that age - or maybe she's just lumping them in there because they are retired seniors. Either way, it doesn't matter that much because it's fiction.

Esther said...

I know, it's not a big deal. And I realize that Barbara's using the term loosely. It was just interesting for me, since Tracy Letts is so specific about the ages of the characters, to figure out when they would have grown up. And it's kind of interesting to see the age differences between the characters.