As I add this to my list, I'm a bit shocked to realise I watched the movie recently without having any idea I'd seen the play in 2007. I can see that is partly because the movie could muck about the the play, but I rather suspect I must have slept through part of the play.

Redstitch is a tiny theatre, seating about 60 now, but back then maybe 30. One is practically part of the set, sitting in the audience. The cast is very decent about nodding off. ( )

Raw and powerful. No one responds the same to grief. There is no road map. There isn't even a guide on how to help someone through it. But with patience and love, we persevere. ( )

I had heard so much praise for this stage play that I couldn't wait to read it. I was shocked at how cliched, stale, and bland this play was. There was not one unique element to this play. The dialog was not only boring but predictable, the characters were cardboard carictures, and the premise was unoriginal. With such a simple, commonly used premise the dialog and characters should've really stood out with fresh voices and actions, but "The Rabbit Hole" fell into cliche after cliche after cliche. I would say this is the worst play I ever read. I mention this play every time the pulitzer comes up in conversation (THAT won a pulitzer???). This was a shockingly bad stage play. Not even worth a whole star. ( )

Rabbit Hole is a play about a bereaved family, but it’s also just a play about family, about relationships, about life, and about all the tragedies and hopes it throws at us. It is so effective in its portrayal of grief and the process of grieving precisely because it does not present it in isolation, but as part of the awkward hotchpotch of the characters’ lives, informed and tempered by their past experiences and desires for the future. The play doesn’t have a strong dramatic arc, but the naturalistic presentation frames the scenes as a view into the characters ongoing lives. Just as the action is dominated by an event that happened several months before, it gives the impression that the character’s lives will continue after the curtain has fallen, and that allows the play to end on a cautiously optimistic note. ( )

I really don’t understand how David Lindsay-Abaire won the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for Drama with this play. I just didn’t feel anything reading it. And I have read a lot of drama. Sarah Kane is one of my favorites. I also really like David Mamet, Ionesco, Shaw, and Eliot. This was the first thing that I have read by Lindsay-Abaire. I only heard about it because of the movie that is now out based on this play. I guess I should try something else by him and not judge him on one book. He is obviously very successful. But I just didn’t get this book. Two stars at best. ( )