Pulitzer Prize-nominated “Rapture, Blister, Burn” is a witty exploration of the roots, inner conflicts, and challenging questions of modern feminism through the interactions of a multigenerational group of women – and one painfully average Joe.
Gwen, a stalwart housewife, and Catherine, a successful feminist scholar, play into the two opposing arguments within the feminism of the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s that predominated the era. They each use the other to reconcile their doubts about the paths they took as young women, and as older women take advantage of an opportunity to see what it’s like on the other side, by switching places.
Playwright Gina Gionfriddo, sandwiches Gwen and Catherine’s dilemma between the attitudes of first wave feminism, humorously touted by Catherine’s elderly mother, and in the young Avery whose somewhat dismissive somewhat confused stance reflects a modern feminism still searching for identity. Issues of masculinity come to light in Don, who is willingly passed between Gwen and Catherine like a play piece in their unfolding drama and whose worth as a partner and man is scrutinized.
The characters together are a virtual family related through shared relationships that form an unexpected intimacy. Separate, each character is unapologetically vulnerable. The cast, as individuals and as a collective, pulled off the complexity of their dynamic flawlessly.
The play – part college seminar, part backyard barbeque – has an academic atmosphere accentuated by the theatre’s central staging. Framing the characters’ conversations about feminism within the container of higher education set the stage for each of them to effectively impart their previous life choices and their desires for the future in light of them. I like this element of the story because it gives the audience an avenue to understanding the multiple layers of feminism that is so transparent it’s refreshing. “Rapture, Blister, Burn” is a thought-provoking refresher course that I’m glad I enrolled in.
“Rapture, Blister, Burn” written by Gina Gionfriddo and directed my Anita Montgomery, will be playing at ACT Theatre (700 Union Street, Seattle, WA 98101) through August 11, 2013. For specific dates and show times visit www.acttheatre.org