Review: RAPTURE, BLISTER, BURN at Iowa Stage Theatre Company

By: May. 17, 2018
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Review: RAPTURE, BLISTER, BURN at Iowa Stage Theatre Company

There comes a moment in act one of Rapture, Blister, Burn, the incredibly smart and funny production from Iowa Stage Theatre Company, where the stage transforms into the classroom. We, the audience members, are college students observing four women discuss the evolution of feminism since the 1970s. As the women debate how their generational differences have influenced their perceptions on the gender roles of women, ideas from the trailblazing feminist Betty Friedan along with the notable antifeminist Phyllis Schlafly circle the room and provide theoretical groundwork for this play that deals with the expectations of women. It was in these highly dense yet intensely satisfying moments where playwright Gina Gionfriddo begins to unpack the complexities of desire, fulfilment, and regret that weigh on the characters. While the characters are dealing with heavy political and personal issues, Iowa Stage Theatre Company's Rapture, Blister, Burn, directed by Kristin Larson, is a delightful and thought provoking comedy with uncomfortably relatable characters making it a must see.

While high theory is utilized in the play, the show focuses on more personal issues. The successful scholar and academic Catherine (Karen Shaeffer) has temporarily moved from New York City to a small New England college town due to her mother's (Etta Berkowitz) recent heart attack. Her mother just happens to share a backyard with Catherine's ex-boyfriend of over thirteen years Don (James Serpento), a current dean of students, who is now married and has two children with Catherine's college friend and potential boyfriend stealer Gwen (Alissa Tshetter-Siedschlaw). Much of the play focuses on Catherine's rumination as to why she never got married to Don and Gwen's disappointment that she dropped out of grad school while Catherine and Don succeeded. As Gwen decides to finally finish her degree and take Catherine's summer school class, each woman's envy of the other's life begins to shake things up. Also present is Avery (Maia Carddock), a young college student to provide a modern counter-argument to the older characters.

Review: RAPTURE, BLISTER, BURN at Iowa Stage Theatre Company
Avery (Maia Craddock) and
Gwen (Alissa Tshetter-Siedschlaw)

I would argue that it would almost impossible to not relate to at least one character, if not all five in rapid succession, throughout the show. Gionfriddo's play begins with a casual catch up conversation between Catherine, Don, and Gwen before a night out, during which Gwen declares over and over again that she is recently sober as Catherine and Don slam down drinks. We observe the characters lightly tiptoe around each other as they stumble through small talk about the different paths they took in their twenties. Catherine chose to remain unmarried and become a scholar while Gwen married Don and didn't finish her degree. After the babysitter Avery arrives with a black eye, Gwen insists that Don pays her, sends her home, and they cancel the dinner, as their three year old child cannot think that a woman with a black eye is okay. Within these awkward first ten minutes, the audience is hurled into thirteen years of tension and withholding that makes for excellent excavation during the rest of the show. Gionfriddo's script provides an uncanny look at mid forty year olds grappling with existential crises that is only accentuated by the older and younger generations of Alice and Avery.

Review: RAPTURE, BLISTER, BURN at Iowa Stage Theatre Company
Catherine (Karen Shaeffer) and
Alice (Etta Berkowitz)

While Gionfriddo's remarkable script is enough to see the show alone, the performances on display richly fill out the characters and guide the audience through the witty and argumentative script. Karen Shaeffer and Alissa Tshetter-Siedschlaw play off each other well uncovering both the oppositional aspects of Catherine and Gwen while also revealing that their freefall of disappointment and envy stems from the same place. Especially good is a moment in act two where Tshetter-Siedschlaw's Gwen, after witnessing Catherine and Don rekindle their college love for a few weeks, reaches a breaking point and serves a platter of truth to Shaeffer's Catherine, which prompted applause from the audience. Exceptionally pathetic, in all the right ways, is James Serpento's Don whose lack of ambition and fragile masculinity that kept him from marrying the high achieving Catherine in the first place provides an excellent example of the bountiful failures of man. At some moments I was wondering why either woman would want him in the first place, but Serpento plays his role of a fixture of desire and symbol of what could have been well. Also great are the supporting characters of Maia Carddock's modern thinking Avery and Etta Berkowitz's loving yet bold Alice. These two actresses fill their pot-stirring characters with a whim of playfulness and energy that pushes the show along in times where things get heavy. All in all, the cast work together impeccably well (even when moving countless set pieces on and off the stage) throughout the show, which keeps the audience engaged in the lives of these humorously lost characters.

At the end of the play, my friend with whom I saw the show mentioned that when Des Moines theatre companies do comedy, they often lean on presenting slapstick farces or outdated classics. Rapture, Blister, Burn is thankfully neither, so I commend Iowa Stage Theatre Company for selecting such a topical and unique show that will lead to much conversation between audience members. After big issues were brought up at the end of scenes, the audience would erupt into chatter during the scenic transitions suggesting their own opinions on the issue. I truly believe the importance of theatre is to bring the audience together as a collective to debate and discuss issues like these, which makes Rapture, Blister, and Burn necessary viewing. I promise you will start laughing at the awkward small talk that starts the show and won't stop until the lights go down. You will also hear all about feminism, pornography, and even the emergence of slasher films by the end of the show. You will probably even feel the burning desire to pull out a notebook and pencil to capture all of the remarkable things the characters say in this wonderful production.

Rapture, Blister, Burn
Iowa Stage Theatre Company
May 10 - 20, 2018
https://www.iowastage.org/2018-rapture-blister-burn
Photo Credit: Iowa Stage Theatre Company's Facebook Page



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