Rabbit Hole

David Lindsey-Abaire has found a nitch in theater, close to Edward Albee's brilliant The Goat or Who is Sylvia? (which premiered on Broadway in 2002 with Bill Pullman and Mercedes Ruhle). Lindsey-Abaire's Rabbit Hole, winner of the 2007 Pulitzer Prize, tells the story of a family working to cope with the death of their four year old son. The death has brought on a dense feeling in the household, causing the married couple to loose communication, a sense of the present, and a sexual balance within the marriage. In the past, Lindsey-Abaire has been the author of some of the finest comedies of the century (namely Fuddy Meers and A Devil Inside), gaining a rep in dark humor and true human connection. This time around Lindsey-Abaire throws us for a loop, since Rabbit Hole stands and pure drama; the type of drama that can easily be mis taken and mis directed by the amature (those who refuse to let go of his previous plays). Rabbit Hole demonstrates a social commentary that most of us are afraid to face in our real lives.

"Is this just about sex?"

"No, it's not about sex...OK, maybe it is about the sex. I don't know."

This interaction stands as the largest bridge between male/female relations. In that a woman's grevience is not covered by intercourse (speaking generally), while a man tends to hide his pain beneath it. Men in their most vulnerable state don't tend to hide in the shadows; but rather loose the pain through a sense of pleasure, while women dive into the pain with no choice.

Rabbit Hole stands as an example of pain. The beauty is that the play does not play as melodrama; nor does it reach to the audience and dictate a demanded response. Rabbit Hole plays out a normal course revealing the uncovering of pain. Denial that sits deep in our psyche and refuses to let us free unless we come clean of our feelings. Lindsey-Abaire (one of our most interesting American playwrights who, unlike Neal LaBute, explores the complexity of human behavior rather than the vivid for the sake of shock value) has joined the ranks of Richard Greenberg, Tony Kushner, and Suzan-Lori Parks.