No one knew what to expect when walking into a play called dearly departed. The people coming from their cars were all dressed in different attire. Some people dress up to go to the theatre, while others wear casual attire. There was a good mix of ages and ethnicity in the crowd the night i attended the show. The music that was playing prior to the show starting was southern country, and church going music. The lights went out and the theatre got quiet and only one cell phone went off during the production.
The play started with the reading of a letter from a relative, whom we can imagine from the words is a bible thumping christian. The crowd immediately starts laughing at every comment and starts talking among themselves about the relative they know who does the same thing to them. The first shock was when he dropped dead at the table, and it caused laughter to break the air instead of gasps in horror.
The cast were a strange mixture of characters all of whom had their own problems and flaws. The cheating husband, the worthless son, the doting wife, and the cold widow of the dearly departed. We get to see into the lives of the kin folk and their family friends as we watch in amazement of their folly. The crowd laughs all the way threw the middle to intermission and then the light go on.
I went to the bathroom during the intermission and heard many people commenting on the play. The majority of the crowd was enjoying themselves, as well as telling one another what they thought was going to happen next. I found myself asking the guys sitting next to me their opinion of the play and watching the audience till the lights dimmed again.
The brothers go at it in one scene and get to make up in another. The cheating husband realizes his evil ways and begs forgiveness, but not before we get to see her fall to pieces a hundred times to our amusement. The widow gets to tell her story of a long lonely life with her husband the jerk. The minister is a crazy woman in a red suit with a big mouth, and the satire used to show how fake she was, was extremely amusing. The best actor in the entire play to me, and to most of the audience as well from all the comments i heard was Delightful the daughter. Delightful was i think a teenager with not a lot of brains. She had only three words in the entire script and yet remained in character the entire time as the out of it, oblivious, distract able, and hungry kid who is just there.
The funniest scene was when the entire cast starts laughing at the funeral when nothing is going right. The audience started laughing with them, and it was hard to tell if it was part of the script, or if they just lost it. The audience were having a great time and so did i. I would recommend this to any one needing a good laugh at life and death as it may be.
Leaving the theatre i listened to the people as they recalled all the best parts of the play to their friends, and discussed who was the best character. It left an impression on us and we couldn't wait to tell someone else. I believe this could be a good take on life is short, so don't waste time fighting it, just enjoy living it. I would not want to be the one who looks back in 40 years to see unhappiness was there instead of love. We regret only what we never had, instead of being thankful for what we do.
