Critic Robert Brustein called it an “achingly funny assault on the vanities, inanities and insanities of family life.” By the author of Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All For You, it takes place in 1950s suburbia. In short frenetic scenes, at once daringly extreme yet oddly light-hearted, we see the marriage of this hapless couple careen out of control, with plenty of clueless assistance from their families.
Matt is Bette and Boo’s only child, the scholarly son who tries to make sense of it all by showing us the story. His attempts to understand become increasingly desperate, until he finally makes peace with the fact of his family, in a tender final scene.
Matt also expresses some common if suppressed feelings about the holidays, in one of the essays he reads: “Holidays were invented in 1203 by Sir Ethelbert Holiday, a sadistic Englishman. It was Sir Ethelbert’s hope that by setting aside specific days on which to celebrate things…that the population at large would fall into a collective deep depression. Holidays would regulate joy so that anyone who didn’t feel joyful on those days would feel bad. Single people would be said they were single. Married people would be said they were married. Everyone would feel disappointment that their lives had fallen so far short of their expectations.”
“It’s a dark comedy—my favorite style,” said director and HSU professor Jody Sekas (MFA, ’97), “but it’s more than that. It’s also very powerful and human. For all their excesses, these are characters we know.”
“Every one of the characters has a journey, and we try to show this. All the characters struggle through things that didn’t come out as they hoped or expected. Bette expected she would be the perfect 50s housewife, that it would be easy. Boo finds being married is not as easy as he may have thought.”
As well as teaching in the HSU Department of Theatre, Film & Dance, Jody Sekas has worked on more than 80 North Coast productions as scenic and lighting designer or technical director. But this is the first play he’s directed since his student days. There’s a certain symmetry in his choice of The Marriage Of Bette And Boo. “This play has a special place in my heart because it is the first full-length show that I had ever designed as a student, many years ago.”
As for his maiden voyage as a director, Sekas maintains that in a way, he’s been directing all along.
“Something I firmly believe and teach my design students is that designers are directors—going through the same process of research, script analysis, breaking down moments, establishing rhythms, supporting the arc of a piece, defining style, and creating an environment that defines the blocking and acting,” he commented. “I believe that if designers do not understand directing, they cannot be good and effective designers. This belief, coupled with my schooling in acting and directing, as well as having worked on with over 50 different directors and gleaning their techniques, really provides the backbone to my directing approach. A play is not about the acting or the design or the tech, it is about telling the story in the best possible way through a seamless, unified vision of all of these elements.”
Acknowledging the absurdities and ironies of this play, Sekas suggests that The Marriage of Bette and Boo is also “a comedy with significant ideas about everyday life.”
This HSU production of the Department of Theatre, Film & Dance features student actors Kyle Ryan, Lanelle Chavez, Ethan Heintz, Keili Simmons Marble, Mason Lev, Kelly Whitaker, Genevieve Dodge, Steven Robert King, Brittany Williams and Brandon McDaniel.
The Marriage of Bette and Boo by Christopher Durang is performed on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, December 3-5 & 10-12 at 7:30 p.m., and Sunday Dec. 13 at 2 p.m., in the Gist Hall Theatre on the HSU campus in Arcata. Tickets are $10, $8 students and seniors, with a limited number of free seats to HSU students for each performance, from the HSU Box Office (826-3928) or at the door. http://HSUStage.blogspot.com