Lily Webb


DRA 350


Tatom


January 27, 2018

Buried Child Response

The play I’m choosing to respond to is Buried Child. The characters were all pretty

unbearable, besides Shelly. However, that’s how it’s supposed to be, I gathered. They represent

the failed American Dream, and her disgust and disappointment in them represent the

disillusionment surrounding the reality. However, it can easily be viewed as the opposite, and

Shelly is the one who’s pretty terrible. She enters someone else’s house, and pretends she knows

how things are supposed to be, when in reality she knows very little about the situation. The play

is incredibly tense the whole time. I felt myself just hoping Shelly would leave, as she’s clearly

in an unpredictable, unsafe situation.

Buried Child isn’t what I would call “exciting”, but it is powerful and important. It is a

piece of theater that is relevant in many time periods. In fact, it was revived Off Broadway in

2016. An example of it’s relevancy: one theme in the play (that is actually only briefly

referenced) that is still important today is that of sexual violence. Shelly is abused and treated as

less than human during her time in that house. Another example of themes that are still relevant

is that of the loss/lack of masculinity. Dodge is weakened by his son sleeping with his wife,

Bradley is weakened by the loss of his leg, and Tilden by his (what I gathered to be) mental
illness. Overall: there will always be ways Buried Child can relate to the time period that it is

performed in. Because of this, it is a piece of theater that will continue to live on.