Student
Review of Local Play: Betty’s Summer Vacation
To
the Editors:
I am writing with concerns to the play that was performed in Wilder
last weekend (Nov. 1-3), Betty’s Summer Vacation. I am a big
fan of Christopher Durang (the playwright) and this particular play,
which could have been a valuable political and social critique.
The play presents issues such as violence, sexual assault, child
abuse, rape, and voyeurism within the genre of a situational comedy.
The show has a live laugh-track that laughs at the most inappropriate
and disturbing times. Later, this laugh-track comes to life and
rears its terrifying head(s). The work is obviously an extremely
dark comedy and is meant to provide a space for the audience to
reflect on their participation and their role in a culture that
perpetuates violence in all its forms. However, the presentation
of this production made evident to me the complete lack of consideration
of these issues on the director’s part.
My biggest problem with Betty’s Summer Vacation is that there
were no attempts made to educate or inform the public of the issues
that were raised in the play. There were no discussions planned
post-show, no involvement with the SIC or SAST, and there was not
even a cursory warning as to the strong content of the play.
I am not vocalizing my opinion on this work simply because it was
BAD theater, but rather because it was UNEDUCATED theater and therefore
DANGEROUS theater. What if this play provided a trigger for a sexual
assault survivor? Did this production provide the resources to deal
with these issues? I would have to say no, and it is disappointing
because these resources are so readily available on this campus.
Furthermore, the director and cast of this play did not acknowledge
in the program notes or bios the seriousness that underlies this
work. I quote from the short paragraph that served as the director’s
notes: “Yes, the show is disturbing, and you don’t have
to like it. Hell, I don’t even know if I like it. Just don’t
crucify me afterwards, crucify [the co-director]. I wasn’t
even here this week.”
This is utterly offensive in light of the material presented and
the production of this play. This play is not just another play-that-you-can-put-on-in-four-to-six-weeks-in-Wilder-Main.
The joking tone in the ridiculously short director’s notes
only furthered my anger and my hypothesis that this play was not
taken seriously by the director(s). This was only confirmed by the
erroneous banners on the front of Wilder (the first of which didn’t
credit Christopher Durang at all, and the second of which shortened
Mr. Durang’s name to Chris Durang?). This conduct is simply
unprofessional, and I can only assume that this attitude carried
throughout the whole process, from conception to reception.
It was a mistake to think that this could be an easy and haphazard
show and that it could still work. It was a mistake not to take
into account possible audience responses. Not only was it a mistake,
but it was irresponsible of everyone involved, and I sincerely hope
that next time the director(s) of this production will choose to
take on a play that doesn’t require so much effort. I won’t
be sitting in that audience.
–Andrew Campbell
College junior
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