The play Buried Child has many dark, gruesome, and depressing undertones. After watching the 1996 production of Buried Child, many parts of Sam Shepard’s play came to life. The way actors portray the characters, express the lines, and capture the essence of the play truly gives a greater understanding and appreciation towards it. For example, the portrayal of the characters completed the image I previously developed and captured Sam Shepard’s requests perfectly. The way Hallie was yelling at Dodge, Tilden, Bradley, and Shelly portrays Hallie as a person who believes she is always in the right. There was never a moment she thought she was wrong or gave even the slightest bit of attention to another character. As she spoke, she did not expect others to listen to her, she just talked to herself so she could express how great she is in comparison to the rest of her family. She truly believes that everybody in the house is crazy except for herself. Tilden is another character that, when seeing on stage, completed the image Sam Shepard created. Tilden does not talk too much, but his movements and the tone in his voice when he does say something encapsulate him. He seeks out attention and love from others because he lost what he loved; his child. In addition, the movements done by Tilden play a significant role in the play. For example, when Tilden went over to Shelly and held her jacket, he cradled it like a baby. Seeing this action done in person gives a whole new idea to the play. It not only gives a deeper meaning to what Tilden will say about his child, but it also shows how badly Tilden wants to love something again. Finally, in the 1996 production, one can see just how dependent Dodge is on others. The stage opens up to him and one can see just how dirty, scrappy, and weak he looks. He depends on Tilden to take care of him. This dependency even angers him to a certain degree because he used to be an independent man who ran a beautiful farm and had a great family. In the production, one can see how he represents his distress and anger through his shouting, flailing of limbs, and facial expression. He hates what he has become. There were moments in the play where he would hide under the blanket in order to not be seen. He would much rather not exist than need people to keep him alive. All in all, seeing the production gave a greater sense of what Sam Shephard wanted to portray.
Buried Child Character Representation
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I like your analysis and agree with how the production effectively portrayed each of the characters from the play. The way the characters spoke and moved on stage added to the overall dark and disconnected mood that Shepard created in his play. Hallie is constantly rambling on without a need for someone to be listening and emphasizing how she is always right. Tilden “seeks out attention and love from others because he lost what he loved” which refers directly to the buried child. Dodge who throws tantrums as a coping method to deny his murder shows how the supposed head of the house acts like a child. All these characteristics are well portrayed in the production.
I really enjoyed how you analyzed the characters and broke down major things they said as well as their mannerisms in order to deduce their personalities. I found myself in agreement with much of your analysis, especially the way that you “profiled” Dodge. I think that Shepard was trying to emphasize how broken his role in the household and family was and how this translated to how broken he was at a fundamental human level. Your response really made me think about how different the play seemed when you read it in contrast to when you saw it. I think that Buried Child should definitely be a play that needs to be portrayed rather than just read because of the raw emotion that came out of the acting and the much more developed inferences and insights about the characters that a person can draw.