Buried child
| Data | |
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| Title: | Buried child |
| Original title: | Buried Child |
| Original language: | English |
| Author: | Sam Shepard |
| Premiere: | June 27, 1978 |
| Place of premiere: | Magic Theater in San Francisco |
| Place and time of the action: | one in Illinois located Farmhouse end of the 1970 year |
| people | |
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Buried Child (original title: Buried Child ) is a drama by the American actor and writer Sam Shepard , for which he was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1979 .
premiere
The play premiered on June 27, 1978 at the Magic Theater in San Francisco, directed by Robert Woodruff. In 1995, Shepard released a revised version which premiered in 1996 at the Brooks Atkinson Theater in New York City, directed by Gary Sinise . The German-language premiere took place on September 27, 1980, directed by Gerd Heinz and translated by Jörn van Dyck .
overview
The piece is set in a farmhouse in Illinois in the late 1970s. The focus is on the family patriarch Dodge, his wife Halie, their sons Tilden and Bradley and Tilden's son Vince, who is visiting his grandparents with his girlfriend Shelly. Topics in the play are the American Dream , the moral decline of the American family and the search for one's own identity.
characters
- Dodge is over 70 years old, an alcoholic, very thin and looks sick. He almost never leaves the house and spends most of the play lying on the sofa. He killed Halie's and Tilden's baby.
- Halie is Dodge's wife, in her 60s . She had a relationship and a child with her eldest son, Tilden. She glorifies her dead son Ansel and lives in her own world on the first floor.
- Tilden is the eldest son of Halie and Dodge and is in his late 40s. He spent several years in New Mexico, where he was jailed and eventually returned to his parents' house. He's trying to finish with his baby's death.
- Bradley wears a wooden leg because his left leg is amputated below the knee. He is seen by his parents as a failure and tries to exercise power through violent behavior.
- Vince is Tilden's son, he lives in New York. He has not had any contact with his grandparents for six years.
- Shelly is Vince's girlfriend, originally from Los Angeles. It serves as a mediator for the audience in their search for meaning.
- Father Dewis has an affair with Halie. It represents the failure of the church.
action
first act
Dodge is on the sofa in the living room of his farmhouse in the first act, watching TV, half asleep, with no sound. While listening to the rain falling, he coughs up. He is asked by his wife Halie to take pills, which he does not take. Until the middle of the first act, only Halie's voice can be heard from the first floor. From the dialogue between Dodge and Halie, it becomes clear that the two have become estranged in their marriage. Halie revels in the past when everything was supposedly better. Meanwhile, Tilden, Halie and Dodge's eldest son, enters the living room. In his arms he holds corn on the cob, which he allegedly harvested in a field behind the house. Dodge denies having planted corn behind the house and therefore suspects Tilden of stealing the corn from the neighbor. Even Halie can't see any corn in the fields from the window on the first floor. Tilden starts peeling the corn.
He and Dodge talk about Tilden's future. After being away from home for more than twenty years, Tilden has only recently returned from New Mexico. Halie interferes and reminds Dodge that Tilden cannot take care of himself. She remembers his youth, that he was an 'all-American' football player, and the hopes the family had in him. After Tilden proved difficult, hopes were placed in Ansel, the youngest son of the family. Ansel was a successful basketball player and soldier who died in a motel with his Italian wife on their honeymoon. Halie wants to ask Father Dewis, with whom she is apparently having a relationship, to erect a statue for Ansel. She finally leaves the house, dressed all in black, to have lunch with Father Dewis. Dodge falls asleep on the sofa. Tilden steals his whiskey bottle and spreads the corn husks over the sleeping Dodge. Bradley appears, takes off Dodge's cap, and starts cutting his hair. The lights go out.
Second act
It's still raining. Vince, Tilden's son, appears with his girlfriend Shelly to pay an unannounced visit to his grandparents, whom he hasn't seen for six years. The two are on their way from New York to New Mexico, where they want to visit Tilden. They find a drunk Dodge on the sofa. He pretends not to know Vince and seems to confuse him with Tilden, because he suspects him to have stolen his whiskey. In the following dialogue it is explicitly mentioned for the first time that Tilden has more than one son. Shelly, afraid of Dodge, wants to leave and starts arguing with Vince.
At this moment Tilden reappears in the living room. This time he is carrying a pile of carrots in his arms. Vince doesn't seem to know Tilden either. Reference is made again to his other child. Dodge orders Tilden to remain silent on the matter, but Shelly's interest is piqued. You and Tilden start peeling the carrots. Vince leaves the house to buy a new bottle of whiskey for Dodge. Tilden and Shelly start talking. Dodge in the background is watching TV. In the course of the conversation, Tilden said that he had a baby who was 'buried' without a service. Dodge tries to silence Tilden. However, he tells Shelly that only Dodge knows where the baby is buried. Bradley appears and acts like he's in charge. He forces Shelly to open her mouth and puts his hand in her mouth. The lights go out.
Third act
The next morning. The sun is shining. Bradley sleeps on the sofa under Dodge's blanket. Shelly comes into the living room with soup for Dodge, whom she calls "Grandpa". She talks to him about his life and tries to learn more about the mysterious baby until Halie and Father Dewis come home drunk. Eventually Dodge admits to drowning and burying Tilden's baby, which he fathered with Halie.
Vince shows up again, drunk. This time Dodge recognizes Vince. Dodge gives Vince the farmhouse and announces his last will: Vince should get the house and the furniture, Tilden his tools. The rest of his belongings and his body are said to be piled up and set on fire until there is only ashes. Shelly is all too much and she leaves the house. Father Dewis asks Vince to take care of Halie. She can now see corn, carrots, peas and potatoes in the fields behind the house from her window on the first floor. In the meantime, Dodge has died - unnoticed - and Vince has taken the same position on the sofa as Dodge at the beginning of the play. Tilden goes up the stairs to Halie, holding the unearthed corpse of the baby. The lights go out.
Analysis and interpretation approaches
Shepard uses the family in Buried Child to criticize American society. Various aspects contribute to this:
The American dream
The American dream is a central motif in Buried Child . The “ frontier experience”, in conjunction with the Destiny manifesto , and the myth of the West play an important role throughout the piece. The West was seen as the place where individuals could leave their past behind and start over. For example, Vince heads west (Iowa) in search of his roots, just like Tilden, who had also left his parents' house to the west (New Mexico). While the "frontier experience" worked for Vince (after seeing his relatives in the rearview mirror, he realizes he is the next link in the chain of his family ancestry, turns back and takes over his inheritance), it didn't work for Tilden . This returned because he first has to finish with his past in order to move forward in his life. Dodge can also be associated with the American Dream, as he embodies the values that define American society in the play.
Figure constellation
At first glance, the characters seem lonely and isolated. Dodge spends most of the play lying still on the sofa, free of any propulsion. Bradley acts violently to distract from his emotional and physical weaknesses. Tilden seems to be more of a child than an adult at times. He's afraid of doing something of his own accord. Halie seeks refuge in her own world on the first floor from her family, with whom she is dissatisfied. She is disappointed with the development her sons have taken because they do not meet her expectations. It is evident that family members minimize contact with one another. The members of the family are closely related by one common factor: their common past, which they deny. A pact of silence has irrevocably bound them together.
Shelly and Vince
When the longstanding silence about the dead child is broken, the audience is confronted with the inevitability of the family connection. The relationship between Shelly and Vince serves as a catalyst for the dormant conflict. At the end of the play it becomes apparent that Shelly and Vince do not match (which Dodge had already found in the second act.) Instead of saving Shelly from the situation, Vince rejects her. Shelly is not part of the family, but helps the audience - in their role as an outsider - in their search for meaning.
Tilden, Halie and Dodge
The incestuous relationship between Tilden and Halie and its consequences are omnipresent in Buried Child . Halie spends most of the piece on the upper floor, where she has created her own world. Old family pictures serve her as a refuge. As a result, contact between Halie and the other family members is minimal. The distance that exists between Halie and Dodge due to the incest committed becomes clear in the first dialogue. This impression is reinforced in the second act when Dodge complains to Shelly and Vince about Halie's relationship with Father Dewis. Even so, it also becomes clear that Dodge and Halie had a happy time in their relationship. Dodge killed Halie's and Tilden's child to save the family from impending total destruction.
Father-son conflicts
In the play, various father-son conflicts (Dodge - Tilden; Dodge - Bradley; Tilden - Vince) show the "crisis of inheritance" of the family. The conflict between Dodge and Tilden goes back to Tilden's relationship with Halie. It becomes clear that there is still a climate of mistrust between the two. For example, Dodge suspects stealing the corn. However, a rapprochement between the two can be seen when Dodge tells Tilden that despite everything he is still his father and offers him his help. On the contrary, Dodge's relationship with his youngest son Bradley can be seen. Despite Bradley's physical limitations, Dodge is afraid of Bradley, who is also violent towards his father. So he cuts Dodge's hair against his will. Dodge has a bad opinion of him. One thing Dodge blames both Tilden and Bradley for is their inability to take care of themselves. Another father-son conflict exists between Tilden and Vince. This becomes clear when Tilden does not recognize Vince. Vince's search for identity is only fulfilled when he takes up his inheritance at the end of the piece.
symbolism
The props in Buried Child have a deeper meaning. Corn, carrots and potatoes symbolize the chance for a new beginning. At the beginning of the piece, only Tilden is able to see the harvest in the fields because he is the driving factor who wants to finish with the past in order to be able to start again. After the sleeping conflict has been resolved, Halie also sees the harvest.
The sofa symbolizes the balance of power in the family. At the beginning, Dodge, the head of the family, lies on the sofa. Bradley tries to take the position, which he fails because of his weakness. At the end of the play, Vince takes the same position on the sofa as Dodge. This symbolizes that he is the new head of the family.
The location of the play is also a symbol. Since the farm is located in the "heartland" of America, it is obvious that Shepard wants to show that the events can occur in any part of American society.
The individual figures also serve as symbols, as they embody various American myths. Dodge represents perseverance and strength, Halie represents the American obsession with the family. Tilden stands for affinity to land. It is Tilden harvesting fields that have not been tilled for decades. Father Dewis represents the failure of the church, its hypocrisy. The “buried child” itself is also a symbol. It makes clear that denying the past blocks the way into the future. Only those who finish with their past can continue.
literature
expenditure
- Shepard, Sam. Buried Child . Revised Edition. Vintage Books: New York 2006.
- That. Curse of the Starving Class. Buried child . Fischer Paperback: Frankfurt 1984.
Secondary literature
- Bottoms, Stephen. The Theater of Sam Shepard. States of Crisis. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge. (Here especially pages 152–182. Bottoms compares Curse of the Starving Class with Buried Child with regard to the search for the roots and the postmodern family.)
- Crum, Jane Ann. 1988. Notes on Buried Child . In: King, Kimball. Sam Shepard. A casebook. Garland Publishing: New York. 73-81. (Crum reports on her experiences as a dramaturge of the play and shows how she arrived at her interpretation of the play. With text examples.)
- Gibson Cima, Gay. 1983. " Buried Child by Sam Shepard." In: Theater Journal , Vol. 35, No. 4,559-560. (Critique of a performance at the Kreeger Theater with a brief analysis of the plot and characters.)
- That. 1986. "Shifting Perspectives: Combining Shepard and Rauschenberg." In: Theater Journal , Vol 38, No. 1. 67-81. (Gibson Cima compares the works of Rauschenberg and Shepard.)
- Hard, Lynda. 1987. Sam Shepard's Metaphorical Stages . Greenwood Press: New York. (Here especially pages 75–87: Realism Revisited: Buried Child )
- Hays, Peter. 1990. "Child Murder and Incest in American Drama." In: Twentieth Century Literature , Vol. 36, No. 4. 434-448. (Hays examines the symbolism of child murder in various American dramas, including Buried Child.)
- Man, Bruce. 1988. "Character Behavior and the Fantastic in Sam Shepard's Buried Child ." In: King, Kimball. Sam Shepard. A casebook. Garland Publishing: New York. 81-95. (Man tries to explain the unpredictable behavior of each character with reference to Shepard personally.)
- Schlatter, James. 1990. "Some Kind of a Future: The War for Inheritance in the Work of Three American Playwrights of the 1970s." In: South Central Review , Vol. 7, No. 1. 59-75. (Schlatter examines Lanford Wilson, Preston Jones and Sam Shepard in relation to their "family plays".)
- Schlueter, June. 1999. "Domestic Realism: Is It Still Possible on the American Stage?" In: South Atlantic Review , Vol. 64, No. 1. 11-25. (Schlueter explains the changes in American theater since 1956 and includes Shepard as part of a new generation in her investigation.)
Web links
- Information about the play at fischertheater.de
- Information piece in the Theater Database (Engl.)
- Bibliography for the piece
Individual evidence
- ↑ Sam Shepard Theater plays fischertheater.de
- ↑ http://www.fischertheater.de/sixcms/detail.php?_content_template=tt_theaterstueck_detail&id=971637&template=tt_default_wrapper
- ↑ Dodge: "Tilden's son, Vince. He had two, I guess. "Shepard 2006: 51.
- ↑ Tilden: "I had a son once but we burried him." Shepard 2006: 58.
- ^ Dodge: "That's what it takes. Persistence. Persistence, fortitude, and determination. Those are the three virtues. That's how the country was founded. You stick with those three and you can't go wrong. "Shepard 2006: 67
- ^ Dodge: "You two are not my idea of the perfect couple! [...] There's something wrong between the two of you. Something not compatible. Like chalk and cheese. "Shepard 2006: 50.
- ↑ Shelly: “I'm leaving, Vince. Whether you come or not, I'm leaving. I can't stay here. "- Vince:" You'll never make it. You'll see. "Shepard 2006: 116.
- ↑ Shelly: "I don't have any stand at all. I'm just trying to put all this together." Shepard 2006: 100.
- ↑ Dodge: "She thinks she's gonna suddenly bring everything out into the open after all these years." Shepard 2006: 107.
- ↑ Shelly: “That room up there with all the pictures. All the crosses on the wall. [...] Your whole life's up there hanging on the wall. "Shepard 2006: 88f.
- ↑ Dodge: "Halie is out with her boyfriend. The Right Reverend Dewis. He's not a breeder-man but a man of God. Next best thing, I suppose. "Shepard 2006: 50.
- ↑ Dodge: "[...] See, we were a well-established family once. [...] The farm was producing enough milk to fill Lake Michigan twice over. Me and Halie here were pointed toward what looked like the middle part of our life. Everything was settled with us. [...] "Shepard 2006: 108.
- ↑ Dodge: "[...] We couldn't let a thing like that continue. We couldn't allow that to grow up right in the middle of our lives. It made everything we'd accomplished look like it was nothin '. "Shepard 2006: 110.
- ↑ Dodge: “Are you in some kind of trouble again? [...] You can tell me if you are. I'm still your father. "Shepard 2006: 21.
- ↑ stage directions Shepard 2006: 42.
- ↑ Dodge: “[Bradley] was born in a goddamn hog wallow! That's where he was born and that's where he belongs! He doesn't belong in this house! "Shepard 2006: 32.
- ↑ Dodge: “Bradley? He's a pushover. [...] All ya gotta do is take his leg and throw it out the back door. Helpless. Totally helpless. "Shepard 2006: 86f.
- ↑ Dodge [to Tilden]: “You're a grown man. You shoudln't be needing your parents at your age. It's unnatural. "Shepard 2006: 36.
- ↑ Shelly: “Are you Vince's father?” - Tilden: “Vince?” - Shelly: “This is supposed to be your son! Is he your son? Do you recognize him? [...] "- Tilden:" I had a son once but we buried him. "Shepard 2006: 58.
- ^ Vince: "I just inherited a house. I've finally been recognized. "Shepard 2006: 116.
- ↑ Halie: "[...] Tilden was right about the corn, you know. I've never seen such corn. "Shepard 2006: 119.
- ↑ Stage directions: “Bradley crashes off the sofa, holding tight to his blanket, keeping it wrapped around him. [...] Bradley starts crawling slowly toward his wooden leg, reaching out for it. "Shepard 2006: 115
- ↑ Stage directions: "Vince [...] lays down on the sofa, arms folded behind his head, staring at the ceiling, his body in the same position as Dodge's." Shepard 2006: 119.
- ↑ Dewis: "I wouldn't be in the ministry if I couldn't face real life." Shepard 2006: 94
- ↑ Dewis: “I'm just a guest here, Halie. I don't know what my position is exactly. This is outside my parish anyway. I'm in the quiet part of town. "Shepard 2006: 113.