Patricia Maureen Francis

‘Rabbit Hole’ a careful exploration of painful subject

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By John Lyle Belden

Eclipse Productions of Bloomington* presents the Pulitzer-winning drama, “Rabbit Hole,” by David Lindsay-Abare, which is a challenge to watch – not because it’s done badly, but because it is done so well.

Real-world married couple Kate Weber and Jeremy J. Weber play Becca and Howie Corbett, in whose suburban New York home the play is set. Months earlier, their four-year-old son Danny was struck and killed by a car when the boy chased his dog into the street. Becca is still dealing not only with the pain of grief but also with the constant presence of Danny’s clothes and possessions. Howie maintains a strong front, but privately watches VCR tapes from Danny’s last months before the accident, and sees even taking clothes to Goodwill as “erasing” their son. The couple had gone to a support group for parents who lost children, but Becca found their sentiments infuriating, so Howie goes alone.

We also meet Izzy (Trick Blanchfield), Becca’s sister whose irresponsible lifestyle is changing thanks to a surprise pregnancy by her musician boyfriend. Nat (Beth Fort), mother of the two women, is also present, cocktail in hand. Her attempts at comfort and relating to loss bring up her own unresolved pain over son Arthur, Becca and Izzy’s older brother, who died of suicide.

In addition, there is Jason Willett (Sam Durnil), the teenager who was at the wheel of the vehicle that hit Danny, dealing with his own feelings of responsibility.

The five visible characters are surrounded by an orbit of others whose presence are felt, including Arthur; Izzy’s boyfriend and his now-ex (an encounter with whom Izzy relates in the first scene); the ever-barking dog; and the long-time friends with children who haven’t called since the funeral.

The star at the center, of course, is Danny. Every conversation carries the weight of his absence. As Howie watches the tape, family moments are heard and seen in a projection that bathes the set with the happy boy’s presence.

Flashes of humor help make the moments of raw emotion bearable and relatable. Each person has their well-intentioned mis-steps on their way forward through the weeks that follow.

The Webers’ natural chemistry helps inform the longing between their characters struggling with potential estrangement. Each presents a soul nearing the breaking point; she as she cries out, he as he holds everything in. Blanchfield, ever reliable in a free-spirit role, transmutes smoothly as she becomes the voice of reason. Fort stirs our sympathies with her complex character, dealing with the loss of both son and grandson as best she can. Durnil handles well a teen given a burden way beyond his maturity to shoulder. Still, Jason’s brave naïve gesture becomes an unlikely turning point.

The play is directed by Konnor Graber, whose approach draws us in with compelling performances, the projected video, and the use of songs during low-light scene transitions that reflect the mood and plot. Lighting is by Allie Mattox, sound by Joshua Lane, set design by technical director Shayna Survil, with Alec Guerra as stage manager.

This drama is worth the effort to see as it eases us through this couple’s process, engaging us with a reminder that life can and must continue, even as those who departed linger in spirit.

Performances are Friday through Sunday, Aug. 8-10 at The Constellation Playhouse, 107 W. 9th St., Bloomington. For tickets and info, see eclipseproductionscompany.com.

*(No relation to the “Eclipse” Indy young artist program.)  

A strong look at fragile relationships

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By John Lyle Belden

Eclipse Productions of Bloomington (no relation to the summer program in Indy) is filling the theatre niche of bold, provocative productions that Indianapolis has with companies such as Theatre Unchained or American Lives Theatre. This approach comes into sharp focus with their present staging of “Closer,” by Patrick Marber.

The drama premiered in London in 1997, the U.S. in 1999, and adapted into a film in 2004, and all versions are notable for their frank, unflinching look at intimate relationships – psychological and physical – among two men and two women who find one another in an unusual tangle of coincidence and dark serendipity. “Everyone loves a big lie,” one of them says, alluding to a major theme of the play.

Though it has nothing to do with this story (and isn’t played), if you couldn’t sit through the Nine Inch Nails hit of the same name (the “I wanna f**k you like an animal” song), don’t bother seeing this. But if you’re open to it, director Kate Weber has created what she calls “a piece of elevated theater masked in a raw and bold human emotion.”

“I never look where I’m going,” says Alice (Shayna Survil), her only excuse for stepping into traffic in front of Dan (Konnor Graber) where she is struck by a vehicle. In the emergency room, their relationship begins. A doctor (Jeremy J. Weber) notices the question-mark shaped scar on Alice’s leg – an injury she refuses to elaborate on, except to say it was from the wreck that killed her parents.

Dan, an obituary writer for a local newspaper, then writes a novel using Alice as inspiration. But upon meeting Anna (Patricia Maureen Francis), the professional photographer taking his book’s headshot, he becomes smitten with her. The pieces of our romantic quadrilateral fall into place in bizarre fashion when Dan draws the doctor, Larry, into his own twisted meet-cute with Anna.

Thus goes a sort of dramatic dance among the foursome, involving manipulation and betrayal as well as striving for authentic relationships and, perhaps, love. While we get very mature content and language, there is stunningly no nudity – even in a cleverly-executed yet erotic strip-club dance – as the focus is on the ravaging of feelings and souls more than their bodies. It all builds to final moments of reckoning, in which the devastating truth of the “crying girl” is revealed at last.

We don’t get a hero or villain here, just people drawn by very human impulses to do well-meaning or hurtful things. This is especially so with Graber’s Dan, a man in his mid-thirties who reveals an immature, needy personality. At times we want to like him, others to hate him. Survil maintains Alice as a sexy cypher, a hothouse flower in her late teens (at the beginning) just wanting to be kept, an American of unknown origin making her own way in London – as inscrutable as the question of her scar. Weber maintains Larry as close to “normal” as we get in this setting, with his own quirks and while fairly dignified, wouldn’t turn down a good shag if it comes his way. Francis (a/k/a Trick Blanchfield to Indy audiences) cultivates Anna’s own complexity, complete with a fortress of feeling at which both men tear at the walls. Her darkest moment is one of the most raw we have seen on stage this year.

Get “Closer” with performances Thursday through Sunday, Nov. 21-24, at Waldron Firebay Theatre (first floor of the Waldron Arts Center), 122 S. Walnut, Bloomington. Get tickets at eclipseproductioncompany.com.