Howie and Becca's home is lived in, comfortable, convenient -- and there is something terribly wrong. The humor is forced. It is as though they are wearing masks. They don't seem real because they are not. They are hiding a tremendous pain. The pain of losing a son, even before he would have entered kindergarten.
Rabbit Hole, playwright David Lindsay-Abaire's exploration of such a tragic loss, is currently at Poway's community theater, PowPAC, under the excellent direction of Sherrie Colbourn.
When we first meet Becca (Kaly McKenna) and Howie (Steve Oliver), their mourning is not apparent. Izzy (Miranda Porter), Becca's younger sister, pops in pregnant, not married, smart-mouthed, and happy. The night before, she had cold-cocked a noisy woman sitting beside her at a bar...her boyfriend's ex-girlfriend. (It's a long story, you'll love it.) Porter's Izzy is in part comic relief and in part a look into the future and excitement of being a new mother. The contrast between Izzy and Becca is amazing.
Sitting there, voyeuristically, while Becca and Howie transition to the depths of depression is a tense experience. (Tissues at the ready.) The controlled acting of McKenna and Oliver is absolutely riveting. The passion explodes, at moments, into anger, as either parent thrusts out, attacking somebody or themselves. We feel their pain. We also feel Becca's mother Nat's (Karen Lust) anguish for the loss and for her earlier loss. We meet only in passing Jason (Stephen Stetak). He is a nice kid with a terrible burden he doesn't know how to handle.
The performances throughout are excellent. The final scene of Act One is one of the tensest in recent theater. McKenna, in a second-act scene with Stetak, masterfully moves from normal social conversation to a breakdown. Wow! Lust gives us a taste of reality with her character's explanation of grief. Oliver's transition into the depths of
pain and anger feel so real.
Stetak plays a young person who cannot really understand just how bad the pain can become. Porter brings her own style of warmth in her character, as well as the needed laughs.
Barbara Seagren's set is totally real, though her upstairs bedroom could have been just a bit higher and the wall indications more prominent. The rest of the design enhances the production, including a working VCR - a nice touch.
I hope I haven't painted Rabbit Hole too darkly. There is a balance of amusement and reality in its
enlightening look at the emotion of losing a young child.
