Tragic but tidy
'Rabbit Hole' offers plenty of drama, but it's not always dramatic.
By JOHN FLEMING, Times Performing Arts Critic
Published August 16, 2007
SARASOTA - In classic Greek drama, tragedy leads to catharsis, what Aristotle described as emotional purification, usually accompanied by the tearing of garments and wailing to the gods at the injustice of it all.
Rabbit Hole is about a tough, heartbreaking ordeal - a family deals with the aftermath of the death of a child in a car accident - but the response is the most polite, buttoned-up expression of grief and sadness you could imagine.
A brief rant against God at a birthday party is as passionate as it gets.
There is no Sturm und Drang in Larchmont, N.Y., the leafy suburb where David Lindsay-Abaire's smartly written drama opens on two sisters in mid-conversation. As Becca folds freshly laundered children's clothes, her younger sister, Izzy, tells a story about slugging a woman in a bar, a manic note that only serves to underline the cool tone of the rest of the play.
Gradually, it becomes clear that Becca lost her 4-year-old son, Danny, in a car accident some time ago she's folding his clothes to give them to Goodwill. While she is having difficulty moving forward, life goes on anyway. Izzy is pregnant. Becca's husband, Howie, would like to resume something like their old relationship, but she resists.
One night, Howie turns the lights down low, puts Al Green on the stereo and massages Becca's shoulders. She bristles at the thought of having sex, thinking it would be a sacrilege to the memory of their son.
"I was trying to make things nice," Howie says.
"Well . . . you can't. I'm sorry. But things aren't nice anymore," Becca says.
Jenny Mercein and Gregory Northrop are excellent as the bereaved couple in the handsome production of Rabbit Hole at Florida Studio Theatre, directed by Jane Page. Mercein has the stylish, self-contained poise that befits a successful career woman, who gave up her job at Sotheby's to be a mom and now finds herself in agony. Northrop, as a squash-playing Wall Street type, is sympathetic as he tries to urge his wife out of her depression, while still suffering himself. Also in the cast are Ashley West as the feisty Izzy and Darrie Lawrence as the sisters' mother.
In April, Rabbit Hole won the Pulitzer Prize for drama, but not without controversy. When the Pulitzer board couldn't agree on one of three relatively obscure, aesthetically daring plays nominated by a jury, it passed them all over and gave the award to the Lindsay-Abaire play, which had premiered on Broadway.
In theater, the Pulitzer has usually been more about commerce than art, and Rabbit Hole shares the same preoccupation with middle-class manners (and food) as that of another recent winner, Dinner With Friends by Donald Margulies.
Rabbit Hole has its moments, such as a wrenching encounter between Becca and Jason, the 17-year-old who was driving the car in the accident that killed Danny, who ran into the street in pursuit of the family dog. Portrayed by Drew Foster as a well-meaning blank, Jason is a budding writer who offers a theory of infinite space and parallel realities that seems to give comfort to Becca.
But something is missing from Lindsay-Abaire's disquisition on the impossibility of finding meaning in a tragic accident. Compared to another contemporary treatment of the theme - The Sweet Hereafter, a novel by Russell Banks and the film of the same name by Atom Egoyan, about a school bus accident in which many children die - the play feels too neat and tidy, with a place for everything and everything in its place, as if the jagged emotions have been smoothed over in therapy.
Maybe it could use some catharsis.
John Fleming can be reached at (727) 893-8716 or fleming@sptimes.com
Rabbit Hole
The Pulitzer Prize-winning play by David Lindsay-Abaire runs through Aug. 26 at Florida Studio Theatre, 1241 N Palm Ave., Sarasota. $19-$34. (941) 366-9000.