Review: RAPTURE, BLISTER, BURN, And What It Takes To Be a Modern Woman

Can a woman achieve undeniable professional success and be a mother? Can she and her husband share an equal amount of achievement or is one always bound to be at least one step behind the other?

Such are questions that Gina Gionfriddo's Rapture, Blister, Burn ponders while toeing the line between provocative and conciliatory. Creating humor from the adage about the grass being greener while not entirely making light of it.

After all, can anyone truly say that they have never had to sacrifice something for happiness?

That's the question that plagues a middle aged Catherine (Deborah Hearst) as she returns home from New York City to take care of her mother. A successful author and lecturer, Catherine deviated from the more 'traditional' path of the housewife to pursue a life of academia. It is only when she is confronted with the very real possibility of losing her mother and being alone that she decides to "embrace mediocrity and ambivalence". It is then that she is confronted with choices made as well as the opportunities she surpassed.

Catherine wants the life she could have had.

As the strong willed Catherine, Hearst's performance is nuanced in ways that the script does not necessarily denote. Based on the text alone, audiences aren't compelled to feel for any of the characters, it is Hearst's emotional dexterity that brings the persona to life. From degree wielding professor to a woman willing to settle for anything but loneliness - there is a lot to Catherine. A development made only clearer through Hearst's careful consideration of the balancing act her character must endure.

Being a modern woman, after all, does not come with an instruction manual.

At the other side of the spectrum is Catherine's mother Alice (Sarah Whelan) who, set in her ways, does not quite understand why her daughter has never found her place in the comfort of wifedom. Although Whelan's wit is spot on for this role, her breadth also provides more range to the martini toting mother figure. The stark contrast between mother and daughter expresses how far women's traditional roles have come in just a single generation - though the jury is still out on what that 'new role' entails.

To twenty something Avery (a snarky, yet appropriately naïve, Katy Briggs), it means bucking the system all

together and hoping to tread a new path. To Catherine's old friend Gwen (the confident Kate Boomsma), it means being a mother and providing structure to her family. And to Gwen's husband Don (a surprisingly relatable Whitney Derendinger), there is little in the matter to be said on his behalf as he is a traded token in Catherine and Gwen's eventual life swap.

Rapture, Blister, Burn is a multi-faceted production with characters who vary greatly from one another.

Filled with the history of feminism, arguments related to Phyllis Schlafly, and three generations of women discussing what it means to be a proper woman - this show is text heavy and complex. Which is probably the single most important reason for its existence. In a time when the media is so heavily influenced by one side or another it is up to the arts to blatantly discuss all of the options one has in life.

Under Sara Beth Hahner's direction, alongside Mercury Players Theater, this comedy embraces its dramatic nature. Rapture, Blister, Burn will not split your sides, but it is funny as well as thought provoking and truthful. It challenges audiences to take two hours to think about sacrifice, love, and making a way in this world for oneself.

Perhaps my being young and unmarried distorts the way in which this play has affected me. For many, the choices made by Gwen, Alice, and Catherine may be familiar. To me, they each represent a possible life path which is an unconscionably intimidating factor of the play. But intimidation is a powerful side effect of truth. And in the case of Rapture, Blister, Burn, that relatable truth is what makes it a play worth attention - it is relevant.

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