RETURN AND DEPARTURE

posted by James Reel

    I’m back, but my time off the air wasn’t exactly vacation. Wrangling the in-laws swarming all over the house was a job in itself, and I managed to fit in some work-for-pay during the past week and a half, too. Here’s one example, my review in the latest Tucson Weekly of Dearly Departed at Live Theatre Workshop:

    Somewhere south of the Mason-Dixon Line, a Baptist hymn rises heavily from a trailer park; its downbeat is the thud of a fat old redneck hitting the linoleum, and its discordant chorus is the sound of a dysfunctional family trying to harmonize just long enough to bury the S.O.B. …
    The Turpin family is not an easy one to like, especially if you're a member of that family. Yet it swarms through a highly entertaining play, Dearly Departed, a 1991 comedy by Jessie Jones and David Bottrell. The show was such a success for Live Theatre Workshop 3 1/2 years ago that the company has now launched a rousing revival.
    It's the sort of play that gets easy laughs just by mentioning Kmart, and every 10 minutes comes a laugh at the expense of white trash everywhere. One couple shares romantic memories of their courtship, which took place on the sofa in the front yard. Somebody brings macaroni and ham loaf surprise to the funeral. These are Bible-thumpers and mulleted slackers, women whose tongues are as sharp as the men's minds are dull, easier targets than possums crossing a country road.