Jennifer Chung Klam

San Diego Arts

'Rabbit Hole'

Don't go where I can't follow...
By Jennifer Chung Klam
Posted on Sun, Apr 5th, 2009
Last updated Sun, Apr 5th, 2009

David Lindsay-Abaire’s “Rabbit Hole,” despite its “Alice in Wonderland”-evoking title, is firmly grounded in reality. That’s unusual for the playwright who wrote “Fuddy Meers” and “Kimberly Akimbo,” and has been known for his flights of fancy and absurdist comedy. Lindsay-Abaire has described “Rabbit Hole” as his first play to have a couch in the set.

The Pulitzer Prize-winning drama about a family in crisis takes place in the home of Becca and Howie, who are struggling to cope with the accidental death of their 4-year-old son. With few missteps, North Coast Repertory Theatre’s production is quietly powerful and honest.

In the eight months following the death of their son Daniel, Becca and Howie have been trying to put their lives back together. But when Becca’s younger and wild sister Izzy announces that she is pregnant, the couple’s differing ways of coping with grief begin to clash. Becca’s need to compartmentalize and put away the reminders of Daniel are at odds with Howie’s desire to hold on to the details of their son’s short life. Worse yet, they are unable to help each other through their separate grieving processes. The result is a growing isolation from each other and their friends, whose discomfort and guilt keep them at a distance.

Add to this Becca’s meddling mother Nat, who with the best of intentions – and equally poor results – tries to help her daughter to grieve. With the sorrow that pervades the family, though, it seems that advice, jokes, anecdotes, memories – even a birthday present of a bath set –somehow all come out wrong. “I don’t know your rules and I don’t want to be scolded,” Nat says to her daughter at one point, underscoring everyone’s discomfort.

Jo Anne Glover plays strong-willed and order-craving Becca with little sentimentality and loads of subtlety. Though Becca has a tight rein on her emotions, Glover makes palpable the constant pain that lies just beneath the surface. Her careful restraint also renders the small cracks in her character’s tough exterior the more affecting. Brendan Ford’s Howie puts up a good emotional front, but bursts of anger and sadness belie his continuing struggle with the loss.

Jessa Watson played Izzy in San Jose Rep’s 2007 production. She is luminous in the role here, skillfully portraying the character’s trajectory from irresponsible free spirit to mature adult. Still, the script seems to call for a younger actor, which would make Becca’s anger and injury at the news of her sister’s pregnancy more tangible.

Sandra Ellis-Troy gives Nat a certain insufferable crassness mixed with a mother’s tenderness – a relatable figure, to be sure. Ryan Kidd has a brief but difficult role as the teenager who may have been driving too fast and caused Daniel’s death. Kidd aptly conveys Jason’s awkwardness and discomfort. But his narrow range of emotion curbs what could be a very cathartic moment for audiences.

Director Stephen Elton moves things along at a casual, almost breezy pace. Moments of stillness and silence therefore carry extra weight, but in a work like this you might expect more of them. Marty Burnett’s beautifully appointed set (with working fridge and faucet) gives a sense of Becca’s upward mobility. Yet the class distinction between Becca and her sister and mother isn’t adequately reflected in Michelle Hunt Souza’s costumes. And the use of both the Internet and VHS tapes in the same play may be a necessary device, but an awkward anachronism nonetheless.

The play’s title comes from a sci-fi story Jason has written for his school’s literary magazine and dedicated to Daniel. It tells the story of a scientist who discovers a series of holes throughout the universe that connect to parallel dimensions. When the scientist dies, his son travels through these “rabbit holes” in search of him.

When Becca tries to assign meaning to it, asking if his own father is dead, Jason responds by repeating, “It’s just a story.”

But of course, in Lindsay-Abaire’s simple yet layered and symbolism-laced drama, it’s not just a story. Jason’s tale is his attempt to atone for the accident, and to comfort the family whose lives have changed forever.

Indeed, Becca does find comfort in the idea that there may be parallel worlds where their family remains happily intact. But in this world, Becca and Howie’s struggle to forgive each other, and themselves, will continue. It’s a struggle that the North Coast Rep production crafts with feeling and humor in Lindsay-Abaire’s devastatingly poignant play.

About the author: Jennifer Chung Klam is an editor at The Daily Transcript and a freelance arts and culture writer.
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