Overview
Synopsis
Marriage. Divorce. Alcoholism. Stillbirths. Illness. Bacon. The Marriage of Bette and Boo follows the zany, turbulent, heartbreaking marriage of Bette Brennan and Boo Hudlocke. Bette and Boo marry and set about having the large, happy family that Bette always dreamed of. The arrival of their first son, Matt, is soon overshadowed by a succession of stillborns. Bette is heartbroken. Boo starts to drink; Bette starts to nag. Amongst the chaos fighting, both must deal with their wacky families: Bette’s mother and father, who suffered a stroke and now speaks in unintelligible gibberish; Boo’s sadistic father, fond of calling his long-suffering wife “the dumbest woman in the world”; Bette’s sister, ridden with anxiety and constantly apologizing for everything; the family priest, fond of impersonating bacon. Playwright Christopher Durang’s most autobiographical work, The Marriage of Bette and Boo finds humor and compassion in unhappiness, as Matt comes to terms with the love⏤and pain⏤that families are made of.
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Context
The Marriage of Bette and Boo is often considered playwright Christopher Durang’s most autobiographical work. A tale of marital discord and alcoholism, the dark comedy reflects certain aspects of Durang’s own childhood. “The play ‘feels’ autobiographical, I rather assume,” Durang wrote in his notes for the play, “and it would be disingenuous to pretend that the characters of Bette and Boo do not in many significant ways reflect my parents’ lives. Many of the surrounding characters and events
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[Editor’s note: this play travels back and forth between the past and the present, with Matt’s narration interspersed throughout the action.]
ACT ONE
The Brennans and the Hudlockes are gathered for the marriage of Bette and Boo. Bette Brennan happily prepares for the ceremony with her mother, Margaret; father, Paul, who is unable to make himself understood after suffering a stroke; her sardonic, pregnant sister Joanie; and her neurotic, apologetic sister Emily. Bette is gleeful to
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