Finished: Buried Child (Shepard) Funny, I never thought about reading any of Sam Shepard's works until he passed away. I don't think I even knew he was a Pulitzer Prize winner. I just always really enjoyed his acting. :-) Anyway, I read this play, his Pulitzer winning one, and it was very, very intense, but very vibrant. I could actually hear each of the characters speaking, and imagine their actions. It was really just a portrait of this broken down family who had a secret from the past. Not a long play, but it packed a punch! Dodge and Halie are a married couple in their 60's and 70's. Dodge appears to be very ill, pretty much an invalid, plus an alcoholic. He's ornery, but has some of the best dialogue. The play isn't funny at all, but the bickering and conversations and nagging and interruptions and non-listening to each other between Dodge and Halie can definitely make you smile and see real life in the process. Halie professes to be the good church-going woman, but she's more about going to see the "good" Father Dewis at the church than actually being church-going. Their 40-something son, Tilden, has moved back home to live with them...not to take care of them, but to basically be taken care of. He's emotionally stunted...has been in trouble in New Mexico and moved back home. He was a high school All American in football, but his life went off the rails. Younger son, 30-something Bradley, lives nearby and accidentally cut his leg off below the knee years before with a chainsaw. He's bossy and bullying to his parents and his big brother, but also a whining, sniveling mess. It's a very dysfunctional family! One day, when Halie goes off in her nice dress to go to church, a couple of visitors come to the door. Tilden's son, 22 year old Vince, who the family hasn't seen in six  years and his girlfriend, Shelly, come in. Neither Dodge or Tilden recognize Vince...to the point that Shelly wonders if Vince has made a mistake about this being his family. Tilden goes out to wander around in the farm out back, which hasn't been farmed to grow anything in over thirty years. He keeps coming back in with corn and carrots. Dodge accuses him of stealing the food from other farmers. Dodge doesn't know or care who Vince is. He just berates him and begs him to go and buy him some liquor. Vince leaves Shelly there to go buy liquor, much to her dismay, but she handles Dodge and Tilden just fine until Bradley comes in and starts berating HER. He also berates Dodge and Tilden. Soon Dodge starts spouting off about the big family secret, and it comes pouring out. Years before, an age isn't given, but Tilden and Bradley were at least teenagers, Halie (their mother) got pregnant again and had a baby son. Dodge knew it wasn't his son because he hadn't "had relations" with her in six years. Dodge, unwilling to have the baby around, had drown it and buried it out back on the farm. The creepy part is that the baby was the product of Halie having sex with her own son, Tilden. This rather explains Tilden's emotional instability. Halie and Father Dewis come back to the house after a night on the town in quite a flirtatious mood, but as they walk in to the confession of Dodge, things get dark. Father Dewis hightails it out, but not before Dodge announces that when he dies, which he expects to be soon, he wants Father Dewis to witness that he leaves the house and all his belongings to his grandson, Vince. Halie goes moaning and groaning upstairs. The belligerent Bradley has become the whimpering whiner because he had taken his wooden leg off to take a nap, and Shelly was now holding it and threatening to leave with it if these crazy people didn't let her go. Vince has never returned with the alcohol. Tilden has gone out back to wander the farm again. Finally, Shelly tosses Bradley's leg and heads for the porch just as Vince is coming back in, clearly drunk. She tells him they need to go, and instead he goes in and lays down on the couch. He had heard Dodge's last will and testament, and it turns out to truly be that, because Dodge has died on the floor without anyone noticing. Vince plops down on the couch and declares that he thinks he'll stay. Shelly says adios. Bradley crawls off stage to get his tossed leg. And, then Tilden walks back in cradling the tiny covered bones of a small child in his arms and walks upstairs with it. Honestly....you can truly taste each character. It's very well written, but oh so dark and tragic.