Good Grief

Rabbit Hole

by David Anthony Fox

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Published: Nov 4, 2009

Good Grief

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There is no greater tragedy than the death of a child. That is the wrenching emotional terrain of David Lindsay-Abaire's Rabbit Hole, winner of the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.It's been eight months since Becca (Grace Gonglewski) and Howie (Brian Russell) lost their 4-year-old son, hit by a car when he ran into the street pursuing the family dog.For the parents, daily routine in their affluent Larchmont home continues.But painful reminders are everywhere, like the announcement that Becca's sister is pregnant.Or careless remarks dropped by Becca's mom about the Kennedys' high mortality rate. The truth is that for Becca and Howie, life, in a fundamental sense, has stopped.

Lately, an overwhelming flood of media has turned grief-and-catharsis into an industry. Sudsy Lifetime movies, maudlin Jodi Picoult novels, countless hours of reality TV have reduced loss to a series of clichés. How can we separate art from Oprah-tainment?

There's no great skill to making an audience cry. An empty chair or a tiny folded sweater will do the trick. Lindsay-Abaire provides all that. He's a clever craftsman noted mostly for his boulevard comedies, which may be why the family jokes feel fresh. But to capture in any profound sense the personal experience of sorrow is beyond him. Rabbit Hole is a definition of hubris far better than the one offered here.

A superlative production would help, but director James Christy's work is perfunctory and looks under-rehearsed, with many nuances unmarked. On opening night the actors still seemed to be finding their way.Donald Eastman's set is a telling metaphor. There's a lovely, lump-in-your-throat moment when Danny's bedroom seems to emerge out of thin air. But the rest of the house is utterly generic, and as free of personality as a furniture showroom.Alas, that's the Arden's Rabbit Hole in a nutshell. It's an evening that goes through the motions of life but never feels real.

Ends Dec. 20, $29-$48, Arden Theatre Co., 40 N. Second St., 215-922-1122, ardentheatre.org.

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