Customer Reviews

Rabbit Hole - Acting Edition

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Dealing with the most traumatic event any parent can endure--the death of a child--David Lindsay-Abaire manages to involve his audience in the grieving process and illustrate how we all grieve differently and for different lengths of time. Despite the subject matter, this 2007 Pulitzer Prize-winning play is often extremely funny, setting up emotional contrasts between ironic humor and infinite sadness which make the loss of the child more poignant, without dissolving into bathos.

Danny, a four-year-old chasing his dog, has been struck and killed by a car driven by a seventeen-year-old driver, and the family is trying to cope with their grief. As the play opens, Becca, the child's mother, is folding the laundry--Danny's clothes--which she has just washed in preparation for giving them away. She has internalized her feelings, refusing group therapy, any religious counseling, and especially the advice of her overbearing mother. Her husband Howie goes to work, attends group therapy, becomes friends with some of the other grieving parents, and tries to coax Becca into becoming a wife again.

Among the other characters, Nat, Becca's mother, has all the pat answers, and she equates the loss of this child with her own loss of her adult son, something she insists on emphasizing to Becca. Izzy, Becca's sister, an off-the-wall case of arrested development, has been having an affair and is now pregnant, an eventuality with which Becca must now learn to cope, especially since Izzy has used Danny's death as an excuse for her irresponsible behavior. Jason, the seventeen-year-old driver of the car, is also trying to come to grips with the events, blaming himself, reliving every moment, searching for some sort of forgiveness which he is not sure he deserves.

As the characters interact, we see them as individuals, not just as participants in the terrible drama of their shattered world, but we also see that grief is not and cannot be a full-time activity. Many moments of humor make their lives more realistic and provide relief for the audience. As the eight months from Danny's death until the end of the play elapse, we see changes in all the characters, but the play ends (blessedly) without pat answers. Each character is different, reacting differently to the Danny's death, grieving their loss differently, and learning to cope differently. The audience, drawn into the events, will also react differently, respond to different characters in different ways, and imagine differently how they themselves would respond. Moving, memorable, and ultimately uplifting. Mary Whipple

Three One-Acts: Crazy Eights, Baby Food and That Other Person
Fuddy Meers
Wonder of the World
Devil Inside

An unspeakable tragedy affects the lives of the 5 characters in this play. The opening scene gives a hint - a mother folding a young child's clothing that will never be used again. You learn very quickly that the child was killed in an accident, and the story goes on to reveal how it happened, how it affected the characters in the play, and how they each cope with the aftermath. While the subject matter is difficult, the play does not become morbid or maudlin. It is beautifully crafted, with unexpected turns along the way.

From the first pages of Rabbit Hole, I felt as though I was intruding on the lives of the Corbett family. Abaire has a way of transporting you to the living room of a family in crisis. You are not invited in, but merely sitting too intimately close to the fragile characters Abaire has created. As a reader and or audience member, I sometimes found myself afraid to move for fear that one single change in the atmosphere would be the final straw to break the backs of this devastated family.

Many people find they feel safest and most secure within the doors of their own homes. That is where we can be our true selves, feel our deepest feelings, and not apologize for who we are. However, being an outsider sitting in and watching another family live out their most intimate moments is almost embarrassing. Feeling that you should look away or exit and leave them in whatever peace they can find. It is written so beautifully, you do feel uncomfortable reading and you do feel uncomfortable watching... But in the best possible way.

Each character is fully developed, rich, and alive. Abaire allows you to have a personal connection with each. It is a touching, rewarding, and devastating experience... And not one I would recommend missing.

A depressing but very powerful play. A family loses their son and struggles to move on after it. Again, a great show to do and read.

I stumbled upon DPS by accident, and these small plays with unassuming covers have challenged my convictions, provoked hours of reflection, and provided sheer excitement in anticipation of the next page, only to take my breath away at the last.

Highly recommended. Other great DPS plays I've read: Frozen, Doubt, Proof.

I decided to go to the original source after hearing about the great reviews for the recently released movie starring Nicole Kidman. Then when I saw the original NYC cast starred Tyne Daly -- need I say more. The play is a fascinating look into a blue collar family struggling to hold it together after the death of their child. Reading the scene where the teenage driver that hit their son visits their home for some closure is beyond uncomfortable. The play has scene after scene of two-person scenes perfect for acting class. Read it, you'll be anticipating this playwright's newest play after you do.

People want their lives to be interesting, but not this interesting. People do change and grow but would rather have the notion of doing so be realized in one's sleep. In Rabbit Hole, bad things happen to good people and family tries to help. Results are both unsurprising and surprising.

Good story, told well. A real family.