Buried Child

The 1996 production of Buried Child successfully captures Sam Shepard’s play. The production does a great job of portraying the tones of the play. The characters are humorous with their dialogue and the way they act. For example, in the beginning of Act I, the conversation between Dodge and Halie is entirely comical. The way they argue over horse racing had me in fits of giggles. However, there was an obvious underlying tone of darkness, which was hinted at by the pill bottles strewn around the couch. In fact, while a lot of the conversation between Dodge and Halie was funny, parts of it was also grim. Dodge seemed to shun his sons, which was shown by how he called Bradley a snake and his disdain for Tilden. Also, even though Halie and Dodge were technically talking to each other, they weren’t really listening to each other. Their dialogue showed the disconnect between the spouses and the rest of the family. This was clear in the play but the production brought it to life.

Another way the production successfully captured the play was the way the actors brought each character to life. The play would not have been as successful or humorous without the actors. One part that I felt captured this was when Halie mentioned that Bradley was going to cut Dodge’s hair. Dodge’s script in the play was already funny but the Dodge in the production was much better. While reading the script, I could hear Dodge’s indignation but the actor took it a bit further. The actor made Dodge act like a child throwing a tantrum, which I thought was a very interesting touch. In addition, the way Dodge says “You tell Bradley that if he shows up with those clippers, I’ll separate him from his manhood!” is loads funnier than anyone can imagine while reading. Overall, the 1996 production of Buried Child was successful in portraying Sam Shepard’s play.