Review: RABBIT HOLE at Bakehouse Theatre

Reviewed by Ewart Shaw, Thursday 29th April 2021.

Let's be clear, it's not you, it's me. Going to two plays about the death of children, and the grief process, on consecutive nights, made it hard for me to engage fully from the start with this well-crafted production, presented by Joh Hartog in the intimacy of the Bakehouse Theatre.

The Rabbit Hole of the title is not Alice's path to Wonderland. It's what we'd think of as a wormhole into other dimensions, but calling the play The Wormhole might not sell as well. We are, as the characters are, prompted to think of what a life might have been, had it not been cut off by accident. In infinite universes are infinite lives.

Krystal Cave and David Daradan are Becca and Howie. Eight months earlier, their son Danny chased the dog into the street, through an unlocked garden gate, and was killed by a car. They cope with grief differently. She irons. He sits up late to watch a video of their son, poignantly voiced by twins Aston and Max Hughes. Their interplay is, in itself, enough to carry the play, however, their family is around. The wild sister, Izzy, is a chance for Stefanie Rossi to work with another director, other than Tony Knight of STARC productions, on the stage that is her second home. She's pregnant and has other issues she's happy to share. There are two promising debuts from Gail Morrison, as the mother, and Liam Hennessy, as Jason, the driver of the car.

From my seat in the back row, I saw and heard much to admire but, as I said, my emotional contact with the play was muted. There was an ovation from the audience at the end, the cast called back for another bow.

Playwright, David Lindsay-Abaire, sets the play in New York, but the subject matter is universal and there's no attempt here to use American accents. I have to say, though, that the subplot involving Izzy, the wild sister, a bar brawl with another woman over the offstage boyfriend, Augie, screams trailer trash.

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