Scott Elliott’s starry revival of Sam Shepard’s 1978 award-winning drama has a domestic Midwest setting in BURIED CHILD which brings real life husband and wife team Ed Harris and Amy Madigan to the West End. On stage, their marital relationship is fractured way beyond repair. Harris’s grizzled, whiskey-slugging Dodge is confined to the sofa downstairs, whilst Madigan’s Halie shouts down from above. The younger of their surviving 40-something sons is a one-legged sadist, the other, his mind wrecked by a traumatic event, carts armfuls of fresh corn into their dilapidated living room.
With its shades of Pinter and Arthur Miller, it’s an absorbing (if more than a little weird) portrayal of the American Dream gone sour, perfectly played out by a strong cast. Harris’s delivery of Shepard’s barbed dialogue is totally compelling and Game of Thrones’ Charlotte Hope impresses as his estranged grandson’s girlfriend, an unwilling and unwelcome guest in a highly dysfunctional household.
BURIED CHILD
Trafalgar Studios
Whitehall, SW1A 2DY
Tube: Charing Cross
Until 18th February 2017
£35.00–£85.00 + Premium Seats
