The 1996 Broadway production of Buried Child certainly lived up to and past expectations. It was a moody, slow, and very dark production, quite true to Sam Shepard’s script and his depiction of American 70’s rural decay. The setting was greatly taken into consideration in the production of this play. The grime and decay were very well depicted, with the dirt and stains on Dodge’s clothes and blankets, as well as the rest of the furniture and the floor. James Gammon powerfully plays a frail man greatly burdened by a very large secret. Tilden’s emotions are very effectively conveyed by Terry Kinney, showing how even more broken he had become after the murder of his son. He is very visibly upset at Dodge, screaming to Shelly and the audience that “He won’t tell any of us!” referring to what happened to his child. Bradley’s violent and brutal behavior is also incredibly well established, with his exertion of dominance over Tilden, Shelly, and Dodge.
Time has passed this family by. None of them recognize the way things used to be prior to the secret. When the photographs of him were pointed out to be hanging upstairs, he replied with the words, “I am me.” and said that he never was that person. Traditional family values have entirely been eroded from this family. Dodge, the patriarch, head of household, has been removed from this position and is left entirely at the mercy of his family. He is treated as entirely incapable by his wife, Halie, to the point where she is having an affair with the Reverend, and while we don’t know, but one can assume that her behavior started prior to this affair, as the baby was born of an incestuous relationship with Tilden. In addition, he is humiliated and taken advantage of by his violent son Bradley, who cuts Dodge’s head harshly while shaving his hair. He realizes with sadness that this is happening, stating near the end of the play that if he were to die right then and there nobody would notice.
The family is so overrun by shame that they have accepted this dysfunctional state as the status quo. They pretend that the secret never exists while it clearly eats at them every single day. This fact is only realized by Shelly, the outsider. Seeing the performance was very different from reading the script itself. The dramatic and dark undertones and emotions are so much more visible and powerful, with the character’s agony being felt more greatly. All in all, many seemingly small lines and set pieces are brought to life, things that could be missed while simply reading the script. The performance brought power and perspective to the words.
