The play, which was put on with the help of several underclassmen in addition to the senior majors, tells the story of the supremely unhappy titular marriage and the difficult extended family circumstances surrounding it.
Presented out of chronological order through countless short "snapshot" scenes, the play opens as Bette Brennan (Megan Rosen '10) begins her marriage, putting forth an irrepressibly sunny persona. Inspired by the film "Cheaper by the Dozen" (1950) she decides to start a family with the same number of children. Her groom, Boo Hudlocke (Adrian Garcia '10), is a sensible businessman who cares deeply for his new bride even if her insensible bubbliness does not always rub him the right way.
Most of the plot is revealed early on, as the audience is informed that only the couple's first child Matt (David Mavricos '10) survived his birth and that Boo's drinking and Bette's fruitless obsession with having more children (despite multiple stillbirths) eventually leads to their separation and divorce. But plot is not exactly the point of this play, which sparkles brightly in its brilliant dialogue and darkly comic set pieces.
Populated with hilarious characters that, instead of being flat caricatures, are fully-developed personages, "Bette and Boo" provided ample opportunities for the theater majors to demonstrate their skills.
Shining especially brightly were Jay Ben Markson '10 and Chiara Klein '10 who respectively portrayed Boo Hudlocke's alcoholic, world-weary and bitingly witty father, and his subservient yet subtly rebellious mother.
Their exchanges and especially Mother Hudlocke's delight at the onset of a deafness that shields her from her husband's sarcastic disapproval provide some of the comic highlights of the play, even as they disturb audiences deeply with their implications about relations between the sexes in upper-class America.
Equally delightful was Mavricos' alternately desperately energetic and overwhelmingly weary performance as Matt, also the narrator of the play, and the all-too-brief appearances by George Neptune '10. Neptune played both the doctor who in a horrifyingly repetitious series of scenes literally drops Bette and Boo's dead babies at their feet and Father Donnally, the family's go-to priest.
In one scene, Donnally gives the extended families perhaps the most brutally honest and hilarious marriage counseling talk imaginable, complete with a side-splittingly histrionic complaint about the stupidity of entering into marriage without any deep consideration, as well as his full-bodied impressions of coffee percolating and bacon frying. This scene provided one of the highlights of the play, and despite its total absurdity (a term that in the case of this play can really only be used in a relative sense) it seemed to provide one of the only moments of honest-to-God sanity in the entire work.
Tess Mattraw '10 and Max Hunter '13 also delivered enjoyable performances as Bette's mother Margaret and father Paul. Margaret seems to have made it her life's mission to interrupt horribly awkward family exchanges with good-natured comments on interior design, while Paul seems to be able to speak only in vaguely recognizable gibberish English. (Hunter, in one of the highlights of the play, also played Bette's lawyer during the divorce proceedings, who bizarrely enough seemed to be dealing with the same speech impediment.)
Betsy Williams '10 and Jocelyn Duford '11 filled out the cast, bringing just the right touches to Bette's sisters Joan and Emily the former a dour cynic and the latter an uncontrollably neurotic product of Catholic school who feels that everything, even things of which she has no knowledge, is her fault.
The understated props produced by Grace Johnson '11 suited the play's stripped-down production in the black-box Bentley Theater, while the set design by Marian Mathias '11 and lighting by Olivia Baptista '12 provided an unobtrusive setting for the outrageous absurdities occurring on stage.
In addition to performing, Duford worked on sound design for the production, successfully highlighting important moments with oddly amusing effects, such as the weird xylophone riff that accompanied each dropping of a new dead baby.
"The Marriage of Bette and Boo" is certainly not a play for the faint of heart, and it ultimately provides no hope for the possibility of happy married life. The sheer energy of its outrage and the absolute absurdity of its desperation, however, are somehow invigorating and inspiring.
The performances this weekend did it full justice, featuring go-for-broke efforts by all involved and a giddy feeling of accomplished pride from the graduating seniors.
