Review: ‘Rapture, Blister, Burn’

Gianna Rap and Aly B. Ettman in :Rapture, Blister, Burn.” [Peter’s Alley Theater Company].

By David Siegel

In these days of constant bombast and weaponized words, when sounding reasonable and wanting to be open to another person’s point of view sounds almost quaint, Peter’s Alley Theatre has taken a quiet approach for its production of Gina Gionfriddo’s “Rapture, Blister, Burn,” a play that deals with feminist theories and human needs.

The play, the 2013 finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for drama, is at the Theatre on the Run in Shirlington through Oct. 22.

As directed by Mark Kamie, “Rapture, Blister, Burn” seeks out a place for honorable reflection of the arguments that Gionfriddo lays out. Both the open-minded script and the production are far from an advocate’s focus of “hurrrah for our side!”

For the Peter’s Alley production, Gionfriddo’s burn is in her words printed on the page. The blisters are internal, as five characters struggle with their wobbly lives, dealing with regret, bafflement, and wishing it could all be different. The characters struggle to find long-term rapture in their lives.

“Rapture, Blister, Burn” is set in a New England college town just before social media as we know it. There is a sudden meet-up of the two central characters, Catherine and Gwen, former grad school roommates and former best friends now in their forties.

Catherine and Gwen took different directions in their lives since grad school. Catherine, (a soft spoken, rare-to-have-her-feather ruffled Aly B. Ettman, full of self-confidence at first; over time hollowing out from within), is a “rock star” academic. Gwen (Tiffany Garfinkle, whom we meet as a scold with a brusque demeanor, but hiding real pain), is a stay-at-home mom.

Gwen is married to a college dean named Don (Dexter Hamlett), a slacker, dope-smoking, porn-watching husband with little drive. Oh, and there is this; Don is the old flame of Catherine whom Gwen stole away decades before.

Why do they meet up after so many years? Well, the visit is quickly planned after Catherine makes a late-night phone call to Gwen to chat about the recent heart-attack her mother suffered – but way more juicy matters are revealed over the play’s two acts.

As the play slowly unfolds, two other characters are introduced. There is a college-student babysitter named Avery who comes into view with a black-eye. (Gianna Rapp, bringing delightful comic timing and a refreshing spirit to her character). There is also Catherine’s supposed ailing mom (an unruffled, phlegmatic Nancy Blum), who has a fondness for a martini, looks totally fit, wishes her daughter love and happiness, but mostly a solid man in her life.

The soft laments and issues pitched in “Rapture, Blister, Burn” are often fueled by the characters consuming alcohol or wanting to. Quiet conversations with rare raised voices bring truth-telling about choices made, current inequalities between men and women, and insufficient intimacy.

The characters ache (though sometimes with too stiff a presence) and then ponder the possibilities of a kind of temporary, experimental life-swap.

Adding to the self-effacing nature of the production is the set design from Dan Rammers, lighting design by Peter Caress, projection design by Mark Kamie, and understated costume design by Aly B. Ettman. The selection of pop music from David Jung during scene changes add delight.

Let me add this; “Rapture, Blister, Burn” may resonate most deeply with an audience who lived through the critically important social and political issues that are raised, such as raunch feminism, Abu Ghraib, internet pornography, “The Feminine Mystique,” Phyllis Schlafly, and the Equal Rights Amendment.

Playwright Gina Gionfriddo provides no simple, Twitter-like headline, or easy answers to the mysteries of aging, gender, or the messiness of human existence. There are no clear heroes or villains.

If you want shouts and physicality, go elsewhere. If you expect a male misogynist gaze to set things ablaze, you won’t find it with “Rapture, Blister, Burn.” The production is an earnest, well-accomplished, sobering view of three generations of folk who wonder and fret about the empty spaces in their lives.

While the show’s title comes from a Courtney Love’s band Hole song, “Use Once and Destroy,” l left with the Beatles on my mind: “And in the end, the love you make is equal to the love you take.”

Where and When: “Rapture, Blister, Burn” plays through Oct. 22 at Peter’s Alley Theatre Productions, performing at Theatre on the Run, 3700 S. Four Mile Run Drive, Arlington. Shows are Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 3 p.m. Tickets are $30 ($25 for students and seniors). Purchase tickets online or call the box office, 202-339-7993.

This piece is from a review by David Siegel posted Sept. 18 in DC Metro Theater Arts.