Buried Child

The world of Shepard’s Buried Child at first glance seems to fit into the same reality as we live in ourselves. When you begin to read the script you are greeted by a page long paragraph about the set dressing and costumes. This we expect to see at the beginning of every conventional illusionistic play, but Buried Child isn't a conventional illusionistic play. Though the characters don’t burst out into song randomly, it is clear after you finish the script is that the story line and the extreme illusionism of the stage don’t quite fit. It almost seems as if the play is an illusion of illusionism. The script tries to present a reality in which “the American dream” is turned on its head. If I would pin point a specific element that distinguishes planet Buried Child’s sense of reality from our own it would have to be ambiguity, complexity, and irony. First off, there is a huge lack of the use of irony of any kind in this play. In most plays that we have read, we the readers were given information that the other characters weren't privy to.  This script provides us with little to know information extra from what we see with our own eyes, and in doing so creates a strong element of ambiguity. This ambiguity around things like who the baby’s father is makes us uncomfortable because if we were to have lived their lives we would know for sure. This sense of not knowing thing that you should is what provides that determent from reality as we know it. The characters in this play seem to not provide us with answers to these questions as if they are afraid of them themselves. This to me seems to be commenting on “the American dream” by showing us the power of ignoring ugly truths.