Betty's Summer Vacation

by Christopher Durang

Looking for a little rest and time by herself, Betty rents a summer share at the beach. But Betty's luck turns to delicious lunacy when this sensible Everywoman gets drawn into the chaotic world of some very unsavory housemates - her friend Trudy, who talks too much; the lewd, seminaked Buck, who tries to have sex with everyone; and Keith, a serial killer who hides in his room with a mysterious hatbox. With sand between her toes, walking a thin line between sanity and survival, poor Betty will leave her summer vacation more terrorized than tan.

Genres: Plays, Theatre, Drama, Humor, Comedy, Fiction

86 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2000

Reviews

[Gabriel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I want you to think of the worst thing possible. Now think of the second worst thing possible. Now, imagine someone doing first the worst thing and then the second worst and add a laugh track to the whole process. That's this play.

We're talking rape, incest, murder, dismemberment (both the member and also heads), harrassment ... and that's just the first act. Yeah, and this is a comedy. With a live laugh track.

In many ways, this reminds me of the scene in "Natural Born Killers" (name checked in the play) that plays like a sitcom (that is, the scene when Juliette Lewis leaves her family) just played out over a two act play. It goes for laughs (and gets them, make no mistake about that) even when what is onstage should not be laughed at. No, I could not see this play ... but kudos to anyone with a strong enough stomach. No doubt it would be a traumatizing night where you would laugh and then feel really bad about laughing.

Of course it's satire. It's meant as a lambasting of the tabloid news that was all the rage when first produced (1999; the play mentions specifically OJ Simpson, the Bobbitts, and Michael Jackson), which the movie above also wanted to discuss (and that in 1994). I think Betty's Summer Vacation does it with a lot more wit and focus than Oliver Stone's mess of a film (but then again, I'm partial to True Romance ... the remake Quentin Tarantino wrote after he saw what Stone did to his screenplay).

Yup. Funny, daring and so offensive I can't imagine ever seeing a production of this play.

[Madison Patoto · Rating 2 out of 5]

Okay so what did I just read…this play is wild. I understand the reason it was written and why someone would like to see it, but personally, it was too graphic for me. All I would say when picking up this play is proceed with caution and maybe look up trigger warnings.
I’m glad I read it, but I probably won’t pick it up again.

[Grace Leneghan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Durang uses absurdism to make a point, not sure what this point was... not really a fan.

[Nicholas Auletti · Rating 3 out of 5]

Absurdism in the 1908s and 1990s was weird and wild. I can see this play being hysterical but then in the wrong hands, seeing this work become an outright disaster. His notes are helpful up to a point. This show is a shock comedy with the gloves off, raunchy subject matter, gory exploits, and a Laugh Track that comes to life. It's stuff I've never read before, but was all of it pertinent to the plot? The disassociation between all the horribleness that goes on seems to be the main point getting layered upon the crazy antics of these non-likable characters. I can see the humor through Betty's glimmers and her use of her as a barometer of what we are supposed to laugh at and not. This show is a social experiment in comedy. I appreciate Durang's daring writing and laughed several times at the more cynical and outrageous moments, yet this was a play of its time.

[Jess · Rating 4 out of 5]

I did not know what I was getting into with this book!
It had a fun summer vibe, set in a cute little beach house, but it was so absurd I was left baffled. I am slightly concerned for the author, for I do not know how someone could come up with something this disturbing. It's like a rainbow neon version of horror. Unfortunately, you can tell that a man wrote it, but if you like weird don't let that stop you from reading it.

BIG warning if you are sensitive to conversations of murder, SA/ rape, genitals, child abuse, and everything else.

Why didn't it get a full 5 stars? The references are dated at this point. Most went over my head, but maybe I am just uncultured. If you are someone who watches more TV, then it may make more sense to you.

[Joe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very funny, gruesome examination of our sick American need to make entertainment out of tragedy, as well as our inability to focus on one single scandal for long before craving the next. Despite an overwhelming number of late 90’s pop-culture references, which may make for a difficult hurdle to overcome production-wise nowadays, there is something urgent and wise in the satire here, and what’s more, it’s really funny too.

[Erik Tanouye · Rating 4 out of 5]

Checked this out from UCB Training Center Library

[Barbara · Rating 2 out of 5]

A horny lead. Incest. Indecent exposure. Dismemberment. Everything you could want in a comedy. Not.

[Jandi Linde · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5. it was super funny @ times but other times i was like ,,uh u went a lil too far

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oh wow. I get it and there's some funny lines in here but good luck to any theater production trying this out!

[Arden Wolfe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Outrageous

[William Harris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hilariously dark, classic Durang. VANYA & SONYA & MASHA & SPIKE is brilliant and probably his most commercially successful work, but this is classic absurdist Durang.

[Lauren · Rating 3 out of 5]

Insane… average summer at the Jersey shore… I love reading plays. I need to read more of them.

[Stuart · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really one of Durang's best plays, this send up of pop culture America is aging better than I would have expected it to. Surprisingly complex plot-wise, Durang's thoroughly likable (if not terribly defined- which is part of the brilliance) heroine is plunged into a world where at first it seems like anything can happen but what you come to understand is that no, not at all, in fact only one thing can happen: a progressively insane slide into destruction that will be the direct result, the author implies, of a progressively blood-thirsty culture where nobody matters and nothing counts but who and how they pander to mass consumption culture. Wildly funny with a truly tour-de-force lead role at the center (Durang has always excelled at creating great roles for middle-aged women and handsome young men, and this show has both), this is an excellent show for a hip, savvy theater company to put on and while many of the notes it strikes are uncomfortable and dissonant, not a single one is wrong.

[Joshua · Rating 1 out of 5]

Bizarre in tone and wildly unstable. It unsuccessfully rides the line between comedy and crudity, with a large emphasis on the latter. I understand what Durang was going for, but there's not enough grounding in reality to make it work. The main character is a persona non grata and the rest of the cast are so wildly absurd that the play becomes all about hammering the point home instead of watching these people reek havoc in each other's lives. Not his best work. Skip it if you can.

[Jordan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is hands down one of the more bizarre things I have ever read. There is really no defined point, it is simply a day-in-the-life -- but a life like no other. Every character in this play is nuts (especially the "voices in the ceiling"). It's kind of hard to recommend because it's not like anything else I have ever read. It's just wacky and irreverent and DARK AS FUCK.

If you are an odd-duck, you'll likely dig this one.

[Christine · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you're not familiar with Durang, this script will immediately cause you to recoil; the character descriptions alone are a giant WTF. But that's the point: satire of the public's appetite for violence, sex, drugs, and sexual violence - all accompanied by a laugh track. In some ways, the show is dated. In others, far too prescient. And in still others, laughable in its naivety. That does, however, make it good fodder for a scene or script study exercise.

[Ed · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favorite Christopher Durang play. A great satire in which Betty spends her summer vacation with an assortment of crazy people in a share on the Jersey shore. The house, they discover, comes with it's own laugh track which laughs away as disaster after disaster is heaped upon the occupants.

[Daniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love this play, and even though many of the references date it a bit as a late 90s play, I think the American penchant for voyeurism has only gotten more pronounced in the meantime. The end still sort of throws me, but maybe if I direct it, I'll figure out how to read it properly.

[Lauren · Rating 3 out of 5]

Um...okay. That's all I have to say about that.

[Ak · Rating 4 out of 5]

love durang's skewed pov

[HJ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Christopher Durang: Take a straight-man (or, rather, woman), among absolute ludicrous people and situations, include taboo subjects. Boom! A comedy. (What can I say; it works!)

[Torie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dark comedy doesn't express it. Grim, dark, total absence of light comedy, aimed at cynical media culture.

[madeline · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wacky and absurd and fun-filled.

[Adelaide Felx · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very raunchy, never would have ever predicted how this was going to go. Characters are so fun, and there are so many cool ways you could play this. The voices are actually wild

[Whitney · Rating 4 out of 5]

kooky play by Durang. nothing more, nothing less.