Boy Gets Girl: A Play [Paperback]

Rebecca Gilman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 29, 2000 | ISBN-10: 0571199836 | ISBN-13: 978-0571199839 | Edition: 1st

What is a stalker? And what kind of life can a woman lead when she knows she is being followed, obsessively and perhaps dangerously, by one?

This is the dilemma facing Theresa Bedell, a reporter in New York, in Rebecca Gilman's tensely fascinating new play. When Theresa goes on an awkward blind date with a friend of a friend, she sees no reason to continue the relationship--but the man, an attractive fellow named Tony, thinks otherwise. While Theresa is at first annoyed yet flattered by his continuing attention, her attitude gradually changes to one of fear and fury when he starts violently to menace her and those around her.

In brilliantly delineating the kind of terror a woman in full control of her life feels when everything around her suddenly seems to be a threat, Gilman probes the dark side of relationships in the 1990s with the rich insight and compelling characterizations that have distinguished her earlier plays and made her one of the most exciting young playwrights working today.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Gilman has received numerous awards for her plays, which include Glory of Living. Boy Gets Girl, which had its premiere in Chicago on March 16, 2000, considers what happens when a blind date turns into a living nightmare. This brilliant and thought-provoking new drama takes us into the life of Theresa, a New York City magazine reporter who suddenly finds herself being terrorized by a stalker after she rejects him. In Spinning into Butter, an unprecedented incident of racism on the campus of idyllic Belmont College, VT, forces Sarah Daniels, the liberal-minded dean of students, to confront her own demons of prejudice and fears while also exposing the shallow minds and insincerity of the other administrators. (An ironic plot twist reveals the significance of the play!s title.) Here, Gilman challenges us to think about the dangers of racism and political correctness. Her skillful use of dialog to create character and move the plot is evident in both of these new plays, which are highly recommended for modern drama collections at public and academic libraries."Howard Miller, St. Louis
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

"One of the finest, most disturbing American plays in years." --Richard Zoglin, Time

"[A] provocative, unsettling play, further proof of Gilman's ability to shake up a theater audience with the power of her ideas--and words." --Richard Christiansen, Chicago Tribune

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 128 pages
• Publisher: Faber & Faber; 1st edition (May 29, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0571199836
• ISBN-13: 978-0571199839
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.6 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #185,327 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars THERE'S SOMETHING ABOUT STALKING, January 29, 2003

By 

Gwen A Orel (Millburn, New Jersey United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Boy Gets Girl: A Play (Paperback)

Gilman has said that she was inspired to write this play after being infuriated by THERE'S SOMETHING ABOUT MARY and the light way the movie handles stalking. It's typical that Hollywood excuses that behavior when the pov is the stalker's-- and this myth just further encourages men to think it's "romantic" to harass a woman. Gilman has a point.

Yes, this play is issue driven, but it is no Lifetime movie with a ready solution or a clear moral. We're as taken in as the overworked editor by the nice guy she meets on a blind date. His desperation to please is at first puppy-dog cute. The mental instability that drives him not to take no for an answer but to persist, first romantically, then violently, as a stalker, is revealed with skill, so that like the main character the audience can feel the walls close in.

One of the nice subplots in the play involves an interview Theresa is doing with a publisher of pornography. Despicable though his profession is, she can't help but liking him personally. Appearances can be deceiving, and people are more than the sum of their careers.

Things go from bad to really bad. Ultimately, Theresa has to abandon her entire life-- the police can't promise real protection, and though she fires the idiot assistant who thought the stalker's wanting to deliver flowers was romantic (and thus allows the stalker access to Theresa), there will always be another person so taken in. She won't be safe until she takes on another identity.

Not a lot of people have given much thought to the damage a determined harasser can do. It's terrifying stuff, and frightening to watch. Gilman writes wonderful, clear dialogue, and it's an engrossing play to read as well.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars ...he was kind of funny. I mean, in a totally offensive way., March 10, 2005

By 

Aco - See all my reviews

This review is from: Boy Gets Girl: A Play (Paperback)

Boys Gets Girl is a dark play, which builds and builds toward a strong and very effective conclusion. Again Rebecca Gilman presents a social issue, in The Glory of Living it was poverty and violence, in Spinning Into Butter it was liberal/academic racism and in Boy Gets Girl it is stalking.

Without giving away the story: Theresa is a hard working journalist who doesn't date. When a friend sets up a blind date for her which starts well, only to deteriorate over time, Theresa's life is thrown into a tail spin.

That's a general look at the story. But the excellent part of Boy Gets Girl is the depth to which Gilman focuses on male/female relationships. Are they social games we play or do people of opposite sexes have biologically accute responses to each other, and is such behavior inherited or learned. Is the cliched "chase" or "pursuit" which Mercer regards as an archetypal story (in which the boy sees, the girl doesn't, the boy pursues, the girl ignores, the boy persists, the girl rejects, the boy persists, the girl relents, etc., etc.) borne of necessity or too many romantic books or movies?...So sets up an investigation by not only Theresa, but her co-workers, interviewees and other characters, into what it is to be a sexual animal today. She regards why and what men and women think about each otehr, and the ramifications.

For a gripping, difficult, occasionally scary play, which deals with socially significant issues, Gilman deserves much credit.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding theatre, October 14, 2004

By 

K. Labrum (Boise, Idaho) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Boy Gets Girl: A Play (Paperback)

This is a rare case of a play being great to read but even better when on stage. As one of the cast in Spontaneous Productions' performance of this show in September of 2002 in Boise, Idaho I think I can safely say that the audience was moved and made to think. The subject matter of stalking and the wide spread repurcussions made more than a few of the patrons come away with a better grasp of how tragic this crime is. Read the book, but if you have the chance, see the play.