Setting
The setting of this play is a single living room in a Midwestern farmhouse. Seriously, that's it. Not every play needs to be a sweeping epic set across an entire nation or some fancy or exotic locale. It's enough to just have an old man in a reclining couch, a set of stairs, and a couple of doors. Believe me, you'll get accustomed to this location, especially once you start to realize that it's the only location you can be 100% sure exists. Tilden might be somewhere in New Mexico... or is he? There might be an attic... or is there? There might be a huge cornfield just offstage... maybe. The indecisiveness of the outside really does emphasize that this setting, this room, is the only thing that matters (at least, to Dodge that's all that matters). It's almost as though anything that's not currently onstage can be teleported on from anywhere and anyplace. Did Tilden get the corn from the cornfield outside, or did he steal it as Dodge claims, or did he just magically pull it out of the ether? Come to think of it, how is Tilden getting here at all? He's supposed to be in New Mexico. ...Is he even here? Get used to the disorientation, folks, because it's not going away. Truth be told, while it is a bit tricky to get a hold of at first, I actually think it works pretty well. You're never quite sure what to expect.Characters
These characters are a lot of fun. Dodge is our main character, and it's actually quite refreshing to get a character who isn't a rich, young 20-something for once. This is an old man, a man who has seen everything in life and is now just waiting to die. He's crotchety, bitter, forgetful, distrustful, and downright unlikeable, but darn it if you don't like him anyway. He elicits sympathy to me because it's clear he's been through a lot. He never really treats anyone the way they deserve, but he's not really all there anyway. Remember that phrase: "not all there anyway." I'm gonna come back to that.We've got a host of other characters, mostly members of Dodge's family. There's Tilden, the dutiful oldest son who doesn't get the recognition he deserves (certainly sounds familiar); Bradley, the crippled son who is treated more like an animal than a person; Halie, Dodge's wife who thinks she's the voice of reason (when really she's just as forgetful and distempered as he is); Vince, Tilden's son and Dodge's grandson, who stops by on his trip to visit his father with his girlfriend, Shelly; and Ansel, the youngest son, who, though he never shows up on stage, still makes important appearances in the dialogue here and there. He's the golden child, the one who could do no wrong. Each of these characters has their own little arc throughout the story, complete with quirks, foibles, and other notable details. If there's something Sam Shepard does well, it's write quirky, weird characters.
On the other hand, this sort of formula doesn't always work very well. Case in point: "La Turista." This isn't going to be a complete review of "La Turista;" I'm only bringing it up because I want to make the contrast between the two plays clear. "La Turista's" characters are completely insane. When their dialogue isn't long dumps of exposition that feel only tangentially related to the current plot, it's non sequiturs and wacky nonsense. On more than one occasion, characters are literally defined in the stage directions as being unaware of everything around them and saying whatever comes to mind. I found this sort of character design very distracting.
There's a bit of this in "Buried Child" as well, but there's a reason this play has a Pulitzer and not "La Turista." Dodge and Shelly are probably the guiltiest parties to this sort of randomness. Dodge, however, is an old man who almost certainly has memory issues, so it's reasonable for him to have trouble keeping track of what's going on. Shelly's a bit tougher to rationalize. If I had to make a stab at it (and I do, I'm a reviewer), I'd say she's way out of her element, so she's trying to fit into the environment of the house however she can. So the unusual mood swings and cruelty to Bradley at the end only makes it clear that she's confused and uncertain.
Oh, and there's also a priest. He doesn't do a whole lot in the story. Mostly just say that everyone in the house is terrible.
Plot
The plot of this play is... um. You are getting the idea from the last two sections that this play is a little all over the place? I don't mean that in a bad way, just that there's a lot going on. Dodge is drinking himself to death, and Halie is badgering him about it. Vince shows up to see his grandparents before he visits his father in New Mexico, but his father is actually here, only maybe he isn't, since only Dodge ever actually sees him, although he leaves incriminating evidence in the form of corn husks from a non-existent cornfield. Then Vince leaves and presumably phases out of existence, leaving Shelly to fend for herself in a house she hates, no wait, now she likes it because... just because, and Dodge forgets who she is (or maybe he's just being ornery), so nobody has any idea why she's there. There's a terrible secret floating around about a dead baby, who I think might be Ansel and everyone in the family just makes up his exploits, only the pastor guy confirms that he's real, so maybe not. In fact it's possible the family makes up most of what has happened to them, except the dead baby, that's totally real, Tilden digs it up at the end of the play. ...Unless Tilden's not actually there.Following along?
In any case, while the plot is certainly intriguing just to see where it'll go and how the characters will react to the next weird thing, it's really not the centerpiece of the story. It's the characters interacting which makes the story worth reading. Watching Shelly fall apart, watching Bradley try to live despite his family's abuse, watching Dodge flip out every time the buried child is mentioned; all of those things make the story run. It's also the contradictory situation, in a sense. You want to know whether Tilden is actually just outside or if he's some kind of hallucination or something. You want to figure out whether is actually corn in the back field or not. You want to know why every character acts the way they act. It's all a huge mystery, and it doesn't really resolve by the end. It just sort of... ends. Again, that's not a problem, just a fact. You may have the answers, but not all of them. It leaves you wanting more, even though it's clear by the end that there won't be any more story.
Theme
If I had to pick three pithy topics to summarize the entire story, I'd probably choose these three words: death, value, and family.Death is pretty obvious, considering the title. Dodge represents this theme. Throughout the play, he states that he is, in fact, already dead, a corpse waiting to be buried. He's the one who killed the eponymous buried child, and he seems the most willing to consider his sons "dead" to him.
Value will be represented by the three siblings, Tilden, Bradley, and Ansel. (And the buried child, to an extent.) Each of them were very well-appreciated in their prime: Tilden was a football player, Bradley served in the military, and Ansel was just gosh-darn all-around perfect. Unfortunately, each of them made a bad choice, and they lost their value in the eyes of society and of their parents. The entire play is about these characters coming to terms with this lost potential. Not that I'm saying they're all successful.
Finally, family will be represented by Vince (and, from a certain angle, Shelly). The only reason Vince even decided to stop by Dodge's house was to reconnect with his family. Rather than be accepted like the prodigal son returned, nobody recognizes him. He is immediately turned off by the bizarre creatures that are his family. Eventually, he leaves, but Shelly remains. She, on the other hand, finds herself strangely drawn to the domestic life. Even though she is not related to them, she becomes more of a loving figure than any of the other characters. In other words, the play ultimately decides that family is not blood, but love. Love: something that's in short supply in Dodge's family.
Subjective
I liked this play a lot. It was certainly better than "La Turista." It's the sort of play that doesn't quite make sense at first, but you can tell that there's something under the surface that has a lot of meaning. I'll admit, my book has some underlines from the last owner, but I would have picked up those purposes without their help. I also like it because it's so dark and powerful. I mentioned that I liked that Dodge was older, but I also like that he's so terribly self-destructive. As much as it sounds like I rag on Tilden, I actually liked him. I really liked the baby subplot.Now for things I disliked. I didn't find Halie, Bradley, or the priest very compelling. (Shoot, I can't even remember his name off-hand. Dewis, in case you were wondering.) Some of the exposition seemed a little too long for my taste. Lastly, I don't quite get Sam Shepard's humor. He's just a bit too off-the-wall for me.
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