Rabbit Hole is a 2007 play by David Lindsay-Abaire:
Becca and Howie Corbett are a married couple living somewhere in suburbia. Eight months before, their four-year-old son Danny was killed when he dashed out into the street chasing after his dog and was hit by a car. The death of their son has upended their lives. Husband and wife struggle to deal with their grief, which threatens to destroy their marriage.
Other characters include Becca's mother Nat, Becca's sister Izzy who has just gotten impregnated by her boyfriend, and Jason Willette, the 17-year-old boy who hit Danny in his car.
Cynthia Nixon and John Slattery appeared in the original Broadway production as Becca and Howie. In 2010 Rabbit Hole was adapted into a film that was directed by John Cameron Mitchell and starred Nicole Kidman as Becca and Aaron Eckhart as Howie.
Tropes:
- Adaptational Context Change:
- Jason's science fiction novel is changed into a comic book in the film adaptation, and he's now an aspiring comic book writer instead of a novelist, presumably because a comic book looks better onscreen and it gives the film a chance to showcase its gorgeous-looking art.
- The Happier Home Movie of Danny that Howie obsesses over is changed from a VHS tape to a cell phone video in the film.
- Adaptation Distillation: A rare example of this trope happening because of Adaptation Expansion: since Howie and Gabby's relationship is shown onscreen in the film adaptation, the plot point of Izzy finding out and confronting him over it never appears.
- Adaptation Expansion: The play is seven scenes long, only has five cast members, and is set exclusively in the Corbett's house. The film adaptation features a good deal more than five characters, quite a few locations, and several incidents only alluded to in the play are shown onscreen. Becca and Jason's relationship is also significantly expanded upon from the play.
- Adaptational Jerkass: In the play, Becca was only implied to be a little resentful of Izzy's pregnancy, and even then it's more out of irrational emotion than any genuine malice, and she acts more concerned about how Izzy will be able to raise the baby than anything else. She's more outwardly rude about it in the film adaptation, being outright passive-aggressive towards Izzy several times, though she does eventually get over it.
- Adaptational Personality Change: Izzy is significantly less of a boisterous Large Ham in the film adaptation than she is in the play.
- Ambiguous Situation: It's never made clear in the play whether Howie actually cheated on Becca like Izzy suspects him of doing. The film adaptation makes it a bit more clear, showing that Howie and Gabby had a borderline emotional affair but that Howie broke it off before anything got too serious, not wanting to be unfaithful to his wife.
- And the Adventure Continues: For a given definition of "adventure", namely, struggling to cope with grief and loss. The play ends with some hopeful signs. Howie and Becca have decided to stay in the house after all, and they've made a date to see Rick and Debbie, friends that they haven't talked with since Danny died. Howie has decided to stop going to the group. The last lines are:Howie: We'll figure it out.
Becca: Will we?
Howie: I think so. I think we will. - Ascended Extra: In the play, Jason appears in three scenes, two of which are quite brief appearances. Since Becca and Jason's relationship in the movie is given more development than in the play, he gets much more screentime.
- Big Sister Instinct: Inverted; the reason why Izzy confronts Howie about a possible affair he might be having is because she's concerned about her older sister.
- Chekhov's Gun: Izzy briefly brings up her friend Reema in the first scene when recounting to Becca about the bar fight. Reema later serves a more important role to the plot when it's revealed that she saw Howie holding hands with another woman at the restaurant she works at, and that she told Izzy about it.
- Death of a Child: Namely, the aftermath. The story is about one family trying to cope, eight months after their son was struck by a car and killed at the age of 4.
- Demoted to Extra: Since the movie focuses more on Howie and Becca rather than being an ensemble piece, Nat and Izzy don't appear as much than they do in the play, though they are still important characters.
- Evil Stole My Faith: Becca has stopped going to church after Danny died.Nat: What if there is a God?
Becca: Then I would say he's a sadistic prick. - Five Stages of Grief:
- Howie and Becca both oscillate between Denial and Anger, with the latter popping up whenever they're forced to face the uncomfortable truths of their grief, and the entire story is about their gradual road to get somewhere near Acceptance.
- Nat, who lost her son Arthur (who was also Becca and Izzy's older brother), learned to accept his death a long time ago. She tells Becca that grief never truly goes away, but simply becomes easier to bear with time.
- Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: Becca is the responsible wife and mother. Her sister Izzy is a wild child that gets into bar fights after having sex with another woman's boyfriend—and gets knocked up by said other woman's boyfriend.
- Happier Home Movie: When he's alone, Howie watches an old home movie of him and Danny. Howie and Becca have a major blow-up when she accidentally tapes over the video.
- Hypocritical Humor: In the first scene, Becca lays into Izzy after she tells her that she punched a woman at a bar. Some time later, Becca ends up getting into an argument with a mother at the supermarket and impulsively slaps her. Izzy is clearly delighted to hear about this and half-jokingly repeats Becca's earlier admonishments right back at her.
- Jerkass: The mother at the supermarket that Becca gets into a fight with. While in the play what we know about her comes directly from Becca, the film adaptation actually shows the incident in full: though she is understandably angry at Becca for slapping her, she loses all sympathy when she blithely says that she doesn't care when Izzy tries to explain that Becca had recently lost her son.
- The Multiverse: In-universe and discussed; Jason's story is about parallel universes, and he and Becca talk about the concept when they share a talk together. Becca eventually realizes that in the universe that she's living in, she's the sad version of herself.
- No Full Name Given: Izzy and Nat's last names are never revealed, and if it weren't for Jason referring to Becca as "Mrs. Corbett" in his Voiceover Letter to her, Howie and Becca's probably wouldn't either.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: Howie and Becca's full names are Howard and Rebecca, but they're never mentioned in the play. Izzy's full name, Isabelle, is only mentioned a couple times, while Nat and Danny are also presumably nicknames.
- Plucky Comic Relief: Izzy's larger-than-life personality and general immaturity makes her the source of the majority of the play's laughs.
- Plot-Triggering Death: The entire play is about the impact of Danny's death on his family members and his parents' attempts to process their grief eight months after it happened.
- Posthumous Character:
- Little Danny Corbett, who had robot bedsheets, loved his dog, and liked to pretend that he was invisible.
- Becca and Izzy's older brother Arthur died some untold years before, having been a heroin addict who hung himself. Becca notably resents her mother for trying to compare him and Danny together, since the circumstances behind their deaths were different.
- "Ray of Hope" Ending: The ending implies that, even though Howie and Becca will probably spend their whole lives grieving, they're at least starting to heal and move on.
- Replacement Goldfish: Discussed Trope. Howie wants another baby, but Becca doesn't.
- Sexless Marriage: Howie and Becca's has become this since Danny's death. Eight months and no sex and Howie is getting antsy.
- Title Drop: Jason's story deals with "rabbit holes" to parallel universes where there are different versions of everyone. Becca wonders if somewhere there's a happy version of her.
- Voiceover Letter: A letter to Howie and Becca from Jason Willette, the 17-year-old boy who was driving the car that killed Danny. In the play, the letter is delivered by the actor playing Jason coming onstage as Becca reads.
