BWW Reviews: Excellent Performances Lift Weak Script of Wilbury Group's RAPTURE, BLISTER, BURN

There are many ways a playwright, filmmaker, writer or artist can work their themes and messages into a creative work. In some cases, those themes are delivered subtly, with nuance, so they're almost imperceptible at first but land in the audience's mind long after they've witnessed the work of art. At the other end of the spectrum, important messages can be put at the forefront, told in forceful and undeniable ways so that the audience is immediately confronted with them. Both of those approaches can and do often work. Unfortunately, in the Wilbury Group's current production of Rapture, Blister, Burn, the messages are delivered at the expense of a captivating, compelling story or engaging characters.

Written by Gina Gionfriddo, Rapture concerns a group of women, in three different age groups, who are facing what it means to be a woman and a feminist. The nearing-middle-aged Gwen and Catherine are old grad-school chums with a bit of a rocky history. Catherine once dated Gwen's now-husband, Don, and those feelings never really went away. Old flames are rekindled when Catherine comes back to town, a situation not helped when she starts teaching a feminism class and her only two students are Gwen and Avery, Gwen's fiery, angst-y babysitter in her early twenties.

One of the big problems with Gionfriddo's script is that it never gets much farther than that simple plot description. To say its light on plot would be an understatement, and the few things that do happen (like the kiss at the end of Act One), we can see them coming from a long way off. Nothing that happens (people breaking up, getting back together, etc.) is particularly surprising or unexpected. Additionally, the play is also light on character development. We never really get to know these women and their real stories. Little to no time is spent delving into the backstory or history of what made them who they are or got them to this point.

In truth, it seems that Gionfriddo just wasn't interested in plot or character. It seems that she had one goal in writing the play, to deliver her message about feminism loud and clear. That's all well and good, but there are better ways to get your message across. In the context of a theatrical play, it's far more effective, interesting and entertaining to do so within a compelling story that captures the audience's attention, drawing them in with the story first, and the message second. Audience members don't want to be forced to sit through a college Feminist History 101 class and they are likely going to tune that out after a while.

In an interesting contrast, another local theater just finished a run of another feminist play, but a very different one. In that play, the word feminism is never uttered (as far as I can remember) and it's a fascinating, compelling story. Feminist themes are woven throughout and it's up to the audience to pick up on them, to understand and relate to those messages. In Rapture, it's the other end of the spectrum. The word feminism is uttered countless times as Gionfriddo hammers the audience over the head repeatedly with the feminism sledgehammer, often doing so with tired clichés about the evils of things like men and porn. Most of Act One really is that Feminist History 101 class and most of it is entirely unnecessary except to make sure the audience REALLY GETS THE POINT.

The major point Gionfriddo seems to want to make is that women don't need men at all. The one male character in the script doesn't fare too well, he's mostly a lazy, pot-smoking, borderline-worthless guy with no ambition. More than once, female characters talk about how they'll never get the kind of love or support from a man that they will from their female companions. There are other important themes and messages, the most interesting one being the question of how a woman measures success or failure in her life. There are intriguing questions raised about career vs. family and whether or not the grass is really greener on the other side. Those themes, too, are delivered in a very obvious way, with lots of conversations designed to spell out exactly what the audience is supposed to understand. Again, there's no subtlety here, just lecturing and speechifying.

Some of the fault may lie at the feet of director Susie Schutt, but that's hard to say. It's a script with a lot of talking and not a lot of action. People don't really do much of anything, they mostly sit around and talk. That's a tough trick to pull off. For the most part, Schutt keeps the pace quick and keeps things moving. It never feels slow or bogged down, there are never moments when the movement or action of the play stops. Schutt also uses some nice blocking and actor placement to create tension between characters, especially in the scenes during the class sessions. On the other hand, there are too many instances when characters are facing upstage, making it impossible to see their face and difficult to hear them.

In terms of casting, Schutt has assembled a talented group who deliver excellent performances, especially the women involved. As the successful-but-conflicted Catherine, Jackie Davis gives a nuanced performance that really shows all of the character's emotional struggles. She has some nice comic moments as well as a few emotional ones that really resonate and ring true. She brings both an intellectual and academic side as well as a very human side to a character that could be played as a cliche of a feminist.

Catherine's former school chum, who made the exact opposite life choices since then, is Gwen, played by Christina Wolfskehl. Believably creating a smoldering fire of emotion just beneath the surface, Wolfskehl is a master at the slow burn (from her wonderfully expressive eyes all the way to her angry foot twirl). When the emotion erupts, it's exciting to watch this talented actress create a truthful and recognizable human moment of anger, fear, regret or whatever the emotion may be.

As the representative of the younger generation, embodied in the character Avery, Alex Maynard is as charismatic and entertaining as ever. Maynard rarely disappoints and she brings a real life to a character that could be played much more one-note and boring. Nothing about her performance is boring as her character struggles with more instantly recognizable and relatable issues of life, love and feminism.

Getting too little stage time is Patricia Thomas as Alice, Catherine's mother. Thomas is wonderful and very fun to watch, it's unfortunate that the script doesn't give her more to do. Her moments with Catherine are especially good, the two performers have an excellent chemistry and energy together on stage.

Unfortunately, two very important characters have no chemistry at all. Don, Gwen's husband, is played by David Rabinow. One of the most important aspects of the plot (if not THE most important) is that Don and Catherine were once in love but their relationship ended and Don subsequently married Gwen, a marriage that is not going so well at. In this production, it is totally unbelievable that Don and Catherine have any kind of passion or love for each other, or ever did. It's not their fault but Rabinow and Davis just have no chemistry whatsoever and don't create any sort of believable sexual tension or emotional connection.

Beyond that, Rabinow does a serviceable job but not a great one. He fits the mold of the character and creates a believable middle-aged stoner with no ambition. That's all we get, though, as the there's little emotional depth, either in the script or the performance. Rabinow just doesn't give the role any real charisma or energy, coming across as lifeless and listless most of the time. He doesn't seem to really care about something even as he's talking about how much he cares about it.

In the end, the performances may or many not matter, depending on an audience member's perspective. As a woman sitting near me said, the play is pretty much exactly about her life. It is her story. And the conversation she had with her friend and fellow audience member before the show was pretty much the same conversation that happens in the play. It's an immediately relatable play that serves up copious amounts of food for thought, both for women and for men. It just would have been nice if it was served with less heavy-handed lecturing and more of a well-developed, compelling and engrossing story.

Rapture, Blister, Burn runs March 19-April 4 at The Wilbury Theatre Group, 393 Broad Street, Providence RI. Tickets are $20-$25; preview performances just $15. Show times are Thursday, Friday, Saturday at 7:30 and Sunday at 2:00. Tickets can be purchased by calling 401-400-7100 or by visiting the Wilbury's website at thewilburygroup.org.

Pictured: Jackie Davis. Photo by Nile Hawver.

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