The Marriage of Bette and Boo

Never have marriage and the family been more scathingly or hilariously savaged than in this brilliant black comedy. The marriage of Bette and Boo brings together two of the maddest families in creation in a portrait album of family life's uncertainties and confusion. Bereaved by miscarriages, undermined by their families, separated by alcoholism, assaulted by disease, and mystified by their priest, Bette and Boo, in their bewildered attempts to provide a semblance of hearth and home, are presented with a poignant compassion that enriches and enlarges the play, and places Christopher Durang squarely in the forefront of American dramatists.

as The Play Begins Bette And Boo Are Being United In Matrimony, Surrounded By Their Beaming Families. But As The Further Progress Of Their Marriage Is Chronicled It Becomes Increasingly Clear That Things Are Not Working Out Quite As Hoped For. The Birth Of Their Son Is Followed By A Succession Of Stillborns; Boo Takes To Drink; And Their Respective Families Are Odd Lots To Say The Least: His Father Is A Sadistic Tyrant, Who Refers To His Wife As The Dumbest Woman In The World; While Bette's Side Includes A Psychotic Sister Who Endures Lifelong Agonies Over Her Imagined Transgressions And A Senile Father Who Mutters In Unintelligible Gibberish. For Solace And Counsel They All Turn To Father Donnally, A Roman Catholic Priest Who Dodges Their Questions By Impersonating (hilariously) A Strip Of Frying Bacon. Conveyed In A Series Of Dazzlingly Inventive Interconnected Scenes, The Play Moves Wickedly On Through Three Decades Of Divorce, Alcoholism, Madness And Fatal Illness All Treated With A Farcical Brilliance Which, Through The Author's Unique Talent, Mines The Unlikely Lodes Of Irony And Humor Residing In These Ostensibly Unhappy Events.

ny Times

once More He Is Demonstrating His Special Knack For Wrapping Life's Horrors In The Primary Colors Of Absurdist Comedy.

A painfully funny, Obie Award-winning play about the tragedy and comedy of family life. Never have marriage and the family been more scathingly or hilariously savaged than in this brilliant black comedy. The Marriage of Bette and Boo brings together two of the maddest families in creation in a portrait album of life's uncertainties and confusion. Bereaved by miscarriages, undermined by their families, separated by alcoholism, assaulted by disease, and mystified by their priest, Bette and Boo, in their bewildered attempts to provide a semblance of hearth and home, are portrayed with a poignant compassion that enriches and enlarges the play, and makes clear why Christopher Durang has become one of the great names in American theater. "One of the most explosively funny American dramatists."— Newsweek