Masquerade Theatre Tackles Grief with Grace in Rabbit Hole
by Laura Duffy
As a frequent theatregoer, it can be thrilling every once and a while to experience a play that you know nothing about. That was my experience going into Rabbit Hole at Masquerade Theatre.
I want to emphasize before beginning this review just how impactful it was to be able to experience this story for the first time, having no knowledge beforehand of the plot or each character’s involvement in it. If you have any interest in attending this production – and I would highly recommend doing so – but know little or nothing about the show, I encourage you to read the rest of this review after attending the play. Know that it will move you, know that it does focus on themes of grief and child loss, and go with an open heart and mind.
Rabbit Hole, directed aptly by Megan Knowlton Balne, Masquerade’s Artistic Director, follows Becca (Marissa Wolf) and Howie (Greg Hedler), a couple struggling to come to terms with the accidental death of their four-year-old son Danny. Rounding out the cast of characters are Becca’s sister, Izzy (MacKenzie Ryann), her mother Nat (Susan Jami Paschkes), and Jason Willette (Finn Hutchinson), a high school senior.
I attended Rabbit Hole’s opening night production, which was almost entirely, if not entirely, sold out. Simply being in the intimate space with my fellow audience members definitely enhanced the experience. Masquerade’s small black box theater allowed for the audience to experience the show quite collectively – we laughed together, held our breath together, and essentially became flies on the wall of Becca and Howie’s home. The audience consisted of only two long rows, and I dared to sit front and center, which ended up being a terrific decision. I truly felt immersed in the lives of the characters, and it allowed me to empathize with each of them more fully.
The play opens on Becca and Izzy mid-conversation. As Izzy explains a recent encounter in a bar with an extremely angry woman, Becca nonchalantly folds laundry – more specifically, a large bin full of clothing for a young boy. The two women have instant chemistry, and although their relationship is unclear at first, it is soon revealed that they are sisters. The entire audience, myself included, was immediately endeared to MacKenzie Ryann as Izzy. With impeccable comedic timing and undeniable charm, Ryann brings levity and fun to most every scene she appears in. The scene takes a turn when Izzy reveals to her sister that she is pregnant, and seems almost apologetic towards Becca. In the next moments, we are given the first hints that Becca is grieving, and that, in fact, the clothes she has been folding belong to a child who is no longer living.
Marissa Wolf delivers a grounded, raw, and honest performance as Becca. To tap into the mind of a mother who has recently lost a young child would be a challenge for any actor, but Wolf approaches the role with an incredible amount of care. Becca’s arc throughout the show, much like the process of healing from grief, is not linear – she finds moments of comfort and clarity, while simultaneously experiencing emotional outbursts and deep depression. Wolf handles it all excellently, demonstrating her wide range of skill as an actor. Her performance is undoubtedly the one that could make or break the production, and with Wolf at the helm, the piece soars.
After Izzy’s conversation with Becca, we move forward in time, where Becca reveals her reservations about her sister’s pregnancy to her husband Howie. Greg Hedler’s Howie is immediately likable and easygoing, but that quickly unravels as he reveals his own devastation about the loss of his son and his wife’s insistence upon quickly and cleanly removing memories of Danny from around their home. Howie is a character who could easily be portrayed at a consistently high intensity, and whose many emotionally charged scenes could make it difficult to approach the role with nuance. However, Hedler’s portrayal is impressively refined and achingly human. He gives an especially stirring performance in Act Two, when confronted by Izzy, whose friend sees him at a restaurant holding hands with another woman. Although he insists that the woman was just a friend, there is a palpable sense of guilt in the air.
At Izzy’s birthday party, we meet Nat, hers and Becca’s mother. Susan Jami Paschkes is hilarious and touching in the role. Similarly to Ryann, she provides the audience with various opportunities to laugh amidst the looming heaviness. Her ramblings about the Kennedy family curse, and her comments about the grossly wealthy businessmen of the world, felt particularly timely. Her portrayal seemed to be relatable to everyone in the audience – there was a general feeling that everyone could see a piece of their own mother in Paschkes’ Nat.
It becomes all the more devastating, then, when Nat, in a well-meaning but misguided attempt to offer advice to Becca, compares the loss of Danny to that of her own son, Becca’s brother. It is revealed that he committed suicide after a battle with drug addiction. Wolf is particularly moving in this scene, and her desperate insistence that the accidental death of her son should never be compared to that of her brother made my stomach turn with empathy.
The character of Jason is one that initially seems very separated from the rest of the cast. He first appears in his own pool of light, reading aloud a letter he wrote to Becca. It soon becomes heart-wrenchingly clear that he is, in fact, intertwined with the rest of the characters – he was the high schooler driving the car that hit and killed Becca and Howie’s son. Finn Hutchinson’s portrayal is sweet and devastatingly optimistic; it seems unfathomable that he should have to carry the guilt of this accident around with him forever. Jason is determined to meet Becca and Howie in order to process his own feelings around the accident. Although Becca is curious to speak with him, Howie is resistant and can’t bring himself to do so.
My favorite scene in the production, and perhaps the scene that encapsulates its themes most fully, is in Act Two, when Becca agrees to meet Jason, to talk and get to know each other. Jason is an aspiring writer, and has dedicated a short story to Danny in which a boy travels across parallel dimensions, or rabbit holes, in order to search for his father, who has died. Jason explains that since space is infinite, it is probable that parallel dimensions actually do exist, and that other versions of himself and Becca may be living different lives on other planets. Becca is intrigued by that idea, and finds it comforting to imagine that somewhere out in another universe, her family’s (and Jason’s) luck might have changed.
Another favorite scene is Becca and Nat’s conversation as they clean out Danny’s bedroom to prepare to sell the house. The two women are finally able to relate to one another, and, when Becca asks if her deep feelings of grief will ever fade away, Nat says:
“I don't know. The weight of it, I guess. At some point it becomes bearable. It turns into something you can crawl out from under. And carry around--like a brick in your pocket. And you forget it every once in a while, but then you reach in for whatever reason and there it is: "Oh right. That." Which can be awful. But not all the time. Sometimes it kinda...Not that you like it exactly, but it's what you have instead of your son, so you don't wanna let go of it either. So you carry it around. And it doesn't go away, which is...fine...actually.”
This explanation of how grief changes over time has stuck with me days after attending the production. Wolf and Paschke excellently display how, although grief can compel a person to isolate themselves, it can be immensely helpful to have people in your life who are able to share the burden with you.
In Rabbit Hole’s final scene, Becca and Howie discuss an upcoming party that they have decided to attend in order to reconnect with some of their friends. They walk themselves through the plans for the day, with the unspoken agreement that they’re going to begin healing together.
Megan Knowlton Balne’s directorial touches are evident from the first scene, and impressed me throughout the piece. I found myself noticing tiny details in each scene that I suspect were unscripted but felt incredibly natural: Izzy propping her feet up on Becca’s dining room chairs, only to immediately take them down again after receiving a warning glare from her sister; Izzy attempting to use those same chairs to block her sister’s investigative advances as they circle each other around the dining table; Becca keeping a purposeful amount of distance between herself and Howie at nearly all times, signaling the palpable tension between them; and so on and so forth. Whether these smart moments were actor’s instinct or the result of Knowlton Balne’s suggestion, I appreciate the obvious care that was taken to draw realistic and impactful performances from each actor.
The set, which was built by Scott Reynolds, is extremely effective. Staged to look like an open-concept first floor of a house (with working kitchen appliances, including a fridge and sink with running water!), every piece of furniture is intentional and used often by the actors. In the right corner, the least-often-visited area of the stage, Danny’s bedroom looms over the more public areas of the house. Even when the other rooms are occupied, it reminds us that one member of the family is decidedly missing.
The show’s lighting and sound (designed by Tommy Balne and John Gromada respectively) were wholly appropriate for what the piece required, and John Gromada’s original music added effective interludes between scenes and acts. There were a few faulty light and sound cues throughout Act Two, but I am confident that those will be resolved over the course of the show’s two-week run. All of the lighting fixtures felt realistic and reflective of what one might find in any family’s home, and were used separately or in combination to distinguish spaces in the house or focus in on particular characters.
One of the ways I know I’ve been affected by an excellent piece of theatre is that long after the lights come up, I am still thinking about the characters and researching the play to learn more about its origin and production history. That has certainly been the case for Rabbit Hole, and I hope everyone reading this has the same chance to witness this production, explore its important themes, and be affected by its haunting and beautiful story.
Final performances of Rabbit Hole occur on February 6 at 7:30 pm, February 7 at 8 pm, and February 8 at 2 & 8 pm. The performance on February 6 is Pay What You Choose. Tickets at https://www.simpletix.com/e/rabbit-hole-tickets-179253
