Rabbit Hole: A Play by David Lindsay-Abaire

A play by David Lindsay-Abaire.

It is easy to miss the beauty of David Lindsay-Abaire’s Pulitzer Prize–winning play Rabbit Hole. Somewhat old-fashioned in its structure, the play takes place almost entirely in one house. Conversations are everyday, peppered with occasional references to real people (John F. Kennedy Jr. and Matt Lauer are name-dropped). Time passage between scenes is minimal, with the most significant jump occurring during the intermission between Acts I and II. Excluding a few minor theatrical touches, not much happens in Rabbit Hole in the way of big events. Yet its simplicity has been a crucial component in the accolades the play has received. In an age where the metatheatrical rules, Rabbit Hole tells a simple yet rich story about a family overcoming the death of their child. Significant events do happen in the play of course, but Lindsay-Abaire’s presentation is so subtle that the audience does not see the shifts until they have already occurred.