Buried Child

This play could happen in real life. The characters themselves are very realistic.  Everyone has seen or heard of (if not had) a drunken grandfather who lies on the couch and watches sports all day.  The setting is realistic. Heck, even Bradley has to be a huge illusion on stage. How on earth do you show a man without a leg on stage (unless you actually have an actor without a leg)? Honestly and unfortunately, things like incest exist. They are real issues that we don’t necessarily want to address. However, that doesn’t make it any less real in our world.

I think what makes this play different from Trifles, Glass of Water and Noises Off is that there is that level of ambiguity.  I need to read it again because I’m scared I missed out on some details.. I have no idea who the buried child is. As soon as Dodge didn’t know who Vince was, I was thoroughly confused.  The fact that people don’t recognize others is bizarre.  The only person that truly recognized Vince was Halie. Tilden thought that he was familiar but never outright said that Vince was his son.

The timing sort of freaked me out. Again, I could’ve missed some details.  I think that they said that Halie had her buried child six years ago. They buried a baby. Vince hadn’t seen his family in six years.  That means he couldn’t be the buried child because, well, Vince isn’t six years old. This open-ended question sets Buried Child apart from the worlds of the other plays.

Finally, something as simple as the characters not knowing where the corn from out back came from. Dodge and Halie said that they hadn’t planted crops in 30-some odd years. However, the corn was still there. Tilden picked it himself.  Did he plant it himself too and not tell anyone? No, because he said he just came across it.  It just sprung up with no explanation. What?