1996 Production of Sam Shepard’s “Buried Child”

The 1996 production of Sam Shepard’s Buried Child brilliantly captured this dark play’s twisted themes surrounding a dysfunctional and damaged American family. I felt this production did an amazing job at expressing the true nature of the play’s setting, characters, and relationships. The ’96 production brings to life the image of the setting that Shepard describes in the beginning of the play; pill bottles are all over the table, the carpet and couch are frayed and worn, and the rural Midwestern home is perfectly displayed as described. The ’96 production sheds light on the true nature of the characters as well; you can truly see how irritated and frail Dodge is, especially in the first scene where Dodge struggles when yelling back and forth with Hallie. The visual of Dodge on the couch, looking ill and ragged while sneaking whiskey from the couch, perfectly portrays the essence of Dodge’s character. Seeing a visual of the other characters too, such as Tilden, also helps to better shine light on the true nature behind the characters. I felt the ’96 production better portrayed the simple-mindedness of Tilden than just reading the written play does. Also, the true nature of relationships was successfully expressed in this production. The true dysfunctional nature of the family is given a visual representation in the scene where a drunk Vince, Hallie, and Father Dewis come home and everyone is arguing with each other. The absence of Hallie and Dodge’s love for each other is shown in the opening scene. Also, Shelly’s strong and at times humorous presence is given visual representation in the ’96 production, especially when she screams at the entire family or runs away with Bradley’s wooden leg. The 1996 production also successfully portrayed the tones of Buried Child, such as the splashes of humor as well as the underlying darkness of the play; especially in the last scene when Dodge is dead and Hallie is screaming to him from upstairs telling him about the harvest, while a drunken Vince is sitting on the couch in Dodge’s hat (taking on the role of Dodge), and Tilden walks by with a baby’s corpse in his hands. Being able to visually see this scene shows how the ’96 production excellently captures the darkness behind the dysfunction of the flawed family destroyed by a secret that Shepard illustrated in Buried Child.