8The Tar Heel Thursday, July 17, 1986
Bette and Boo is a toad marriage off actors
By KATIE WHITE
Staff Writer
There are plays in which the acting
and play are suited, and there are
plays in which they are not. The
ArtSchool has made a boo-boo this
time; there is no marriage between
the acting ability and play choice in
the current production of "The
Marriage of Bette and Boo," by
Christopher Durang. The acting is
the worthy partner; the play choice
is questionable.
The play uses black humor to
address family relationships. Bette
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(Cynthia Mitchell) and Boo (Tom
Marriott) are married and proceed
to have children. Unfortunately, Boo
is an alcoholic and Bette's children
are born dead, except for one. The
child, Matt (Mark J. Miller), narrates
his family's life from'before his birth
to 30 years after, jumping in and out
of role. He analyzes the family at the
same time, sometimes comparing
them to main characters in classic
novels, like "Return of the Native."
Christopher Durang lets the
audience see the grosser side of
marriage: the overbearing in-laws,
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the abusive husband, the nagging
wife, contested divorce and resulting
neurosis. This is all supposed to be
funny. Bette is always nagging Boo
and having stillborn children. Boo
keeps drinking and fighting with
Bette. Matt is caught in the middle.
As if this isn't enough to be funny,
Durang throws in a little religion.
Father Donnally (Harvey Sage) is the
comely, Catholic priest who consoles
Bette about her family problems with
a holy goblet of wine always in his
hand. He invites Bette and Boo to
a retreat for newly married couples
where he offers advice. He tells his
parish to think about getting married
because if they have problems, that's
tough. And don't bother him; he can't
do anything about them.
Each role is clear, especially the
roles of Bette's sisters, Joan (Marcia
Edmundson), and Emily (Martha
m
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Brown). In contrast to Bette, Joan
is always pregnant and bitter about
her children. Emily is a spinster-type
who fails as a nun and has a nervous
breakdown. She is constantly apol
ogizing to everyone for things she
thinks she did offensively. She spends
her time writing letters to apologize
before the act she knows shell
commit. Margaret Brennan (Carolyn
Rashti), the mother of the three
sisters, tries to make peace between
everyone. Her two pieces of advice
are "change the subject" and "don't
go on about it."
To top off this crew of people,
Durang creates an abusive husband,
Karl Hudlock (George Cole), Boo's
father. This man is offensive. He
loves to make jokes about how stupid
his wife (Lena Boyd) is, while
smoking long cigars and asking for
drinks. The audience gets a full look
-
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at
and script
at this character when he purposely
drops his cigar ash on one of Bette's
dead babies.
If all this sounds a bit base to you,
that's it. Some people find baseness
funny. Yet, for all the cruelty, or
humor, the actors and actreses
transcend this feeling. They do make
it funny at times, which is commen
dable. One can have nothing but
respect for their talent and effort.
If you're in the mood for abuse,
have a perverse curiosity, or just
enjoy black humor, catch the show.
Durang originally wrote the play as
a one-act; he should have left it so.
Fans find
The Cure
By JAf.'ES BUBRUS
Staff Writer
The Cure came Friday to Meri
weather Post Pavilion in Maryland
to play in front of their new American
fans.
Although The Cure have been
around for quite a while and have
many albums to their credit, they
have just broken on to the American
scene in the last year with their studio
album, "The Head on the Door."
On their first large venue tour of
the states, it was easily evident that
the group's music cuts have surpassed
cult status. The concert attracted a
variety of people from the young
punks ragged out in their usual black
to the yuppie baggers dressed in their
fashionable multi-colored jams.
At first it seemed the concert was
only going to be for the cult fans
when the band opened up their set
with a couple songs from early LPs
that most of the new fans did not
recognize. Thus it took a while for
the crowd to get moving. People on
the lawn section were content to
recline on the grass and listen rather
than move their feet to the beat. As
the set progressed, The Cure started
to play the songs that gave them their
large American listening audience,
such as, "A Night Like This," "Kyoto
Song" and "In Between Days."
The music was not the only exhil
irating part of the concert. The
lighting provided an interesting
visual aspect to the show and com
plimented The Cure's music. The
guys were dressed in all-black suits
and accompanied by fog machines,
which were constantly being asked
to recreate London fog, and the light
show consisting of the yellow, blue,
green, and red colors that paint lead
singer Robert Smith's face on the
group's poster. The backstage per
sonnel made the concert exciting
visually as well as musically.
The only disturbing note of the
whole concert was The Cure's appar
ent willingness to revel in living the
American dream. Tour t-shirts sold
at $20 apiece. The best seat in the
house was only $17. $37 for two
hours of music and a souvenir is quite
steep. At this rate the only people
who will be able to see The Cure on
their next U.S. tour will be successful
yuppies. How many yuppies do you
know, Robert, who wear black?
PHIL CRISP
200 W. Weaver St Carrboro. NC 27510
Phone: 967-8399 Res. 489-0257
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