The Clackamas print., November 18, 2009, Page 6, Image 6

6 the clackamas print
Wednesday, Nov. 18, 2009
One son survives birth in ‘Th
By Mark Sunderland
The Clackamas Print
“The Marriage of Bette and
Boo” starts off with the joy
of a wedding. The bells, well
minus the bells, but there is
singing and smiles with the
joy writ upon the faces of the
cast. Once past the beginning
of the play, the helter-skelter
of a wedding ensues with the
bride’s family on one side and
the groom’s on the other.
Any resemblance to a wed­
ding ends there with commen­
tary from the bride’s mother
about Bette’s side of the fam­
ily that gives a brief insight
to where the story is headed.
Bette’s mother is a strong-
willed woman who runs her
family with a iron fist. Her
views on her daughters are as
black and white as skunk.
On the other side, there is
a brief stint of the groom’s
parents talking about Boo and,
very briefly, about his side
of the family. The contrast
between the bride and groom’s
families is apparent with Boo’s
father, an ornery man who
treats his wife as property and
not a human being.
The wedding is nothing
more than a simple window
to the story that is about to
unfold. The story is told by
Bette and Boo’s son in the
manner x>f an autobiography.
Bette and Boo’s son, Matt or
“Skip,” weaves the dark tale
of his parents and their mar­
riage.
The sordid tale is given life
once the wedding is over and
the joy of the honeymoon is
glossed over as Matt continues
his commentary of his parents’
life. The original bliss is slow­
ly tainted by Bette’s desire to
have more kids beyond Matt
and her inability to have more
due to conflicting blood types.
Her desire becomes a steady
theme throughout the play, and
her optimistic outlook on life
is corrupted over time by cyni­
cism.
Matt’s father, Boo, isn’t left
out of the game, though, as
I
his only role models are an
alcoholic father and a mother
who has become comfortable
H
in servitude. Boo, who at the
wedding was just as optimistic
as his young wife about the
H
bright future that lay ahead
of them, begins to fall into
the abyss of alcoholism and
■
Ji
B E ': I J r
1
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All photos by Brad Heineke C/ackd
Stricken with cancer and undergoing chemotherapy, Bette, right, is assisted by her son, Matt, center, and her sister, Em
left, onto her hospital bed in the final scene of the play.
depression.
All the while, their son,
Matt, lives a life in which his
parents argue mercilessly about
the tiniest mishaps and trou­
bles in their life. His family’s
religious beliefs weigh down
on the household. Catholicism
plays a major role in the lives
of these characters.
The story is told as a dark
satire, courtesy of Matt. The
dark tale takes the audience
through how Bette and Boo
live through four stillbirths
with Skip being the only child
Father Donnelly, center, holds a retreat for young married couples or tries to. Instead his
audience is either older, divorced, deceased or just tagging along.
to survive. The death of four
kids is added to the death of
Bette’s father later in the play
and later Boo’s mother dies as
well.
Death in the family doesn’t
bring the family any closer
together though as age or
childbirth claims lives as the
merciless Grim Reaper waltz­
ing through a land ridden by
the Black Plague. Alcoholism
is the quiet underlying issue
with Boo and his family, while
Bette deals with the desires to
be a good Catholic housewife
and raise a bundle of ‘good
little’ children.
The story continues and
divorce tears Bette and Boo
further apart. The two don’t
reconnect until the end when
Bette is si&k with cancer and
Boo has lost too much to
drinking. The tale ends with
Bette dying, and yet her death
is tinged with happiness as her
and Boo reconnect (sort of).
This brings the story to an
end. A story of death, heart
ache, family issues and a dark­
er sense of humor that seeps
throughout the story as tenta­
cles of an octopus. It appeased
my desire for a fantastic show
and the little part of me that
finds the darker shades of life
amusing in a twisted sort of
way. All in all, if given the
chance to see this play I would
take the bull by thi
and watch the two and
maybe three, hour lonj
It is worth watching if I
understand the adult!
and take on life.
Bette, played by Aitisi
Residence, Heather 01
deals with a number o
ships throughout the c
of the play.