The Rape of the Sabine Women, By Grace B. Matthias

See it if you're interested in an earnest, ultimately unsuccessful, attempt to explore rape culture through a comedic lens, + some good performances.

Don't see it if this subject matter, handled in a well-meaning but misguided way, will be offensive to you.

Also I fully believe this playwright came to this project meaning well, but it ultimately felt extremely misguided to me. Rape happens because women keep forgiving men? That's the takeaway we're meant to leave with? So... it's the women's fault? The play is ultimately infinitely more sympathetic toward the perpetrators of the crime (boys rape girls because they're hurt inside and don't know how to express their feelings healthily?) than it is to ANY of the one-dimensional female characters. And while I completely support the goal of approaching difficult subject matter with humor, this production simply wasn't funny enough to achieve that goal. It's also quite long, and desperately in need of editing.... Read more Read less

See it if Don't. A messy, deeply misguided attempt at skewering rape culture that misses almost all marks

Don't see it if I honestly wouldn't see it. After seeing it, I was shocked it was produced at all.

Also It can be easy to dismiss this play based on the idea alone, but I was determined and excited to see it. And you can tell from the play that, on some level Crowley must care deeply, or he wouldn't have spent so much time on the subject. But every attempt at humor feels misguided and miscommunicated, and dangerous. His attempt to satire and dark comedy the difficult moments only serve to highlight (what it's like in real life), that rape victims & survivors are often ignored, treated poorly, and discredited. To pour salt into a variety of wounds, some quiet deep, the play has the protagonist idealize/Stockholm Syndrome her rapist, who had been a friend. While it makes sense that feels are layered, it's handled with none, instead feeling like a Twilight parody. Instead of handing the material thoughtfully, the play scatter-shoots in an attempt to remark on rape culture, instead saying nothing but a bunch of upsetting cliches and flat jokes that, in more skilled hands, might be satire.... Read more Read less

See it if you want to see an ambitious experiment fail. A satire of rape culture doesn't work, but the acting and staging are strong.

Don't see it if you're offended by wrong-minded portrayals of rape victims. How can you laugh at society's cruelty? You can't parody crazy reality.

Also A play that is over two hours long cannot be redeemed by the last two minutes (and even then, the speech is not accurate). Rape is a horrible crime and making it ambiguous (w the victim's uncertainty) is terribly misguided. This play has no moral center, so the cruel voices of society (played for laughs) are not showcased as cruel (and, far too often, are merely reflections of actual horrific sentiments). The playwright is talented--the language of his universe is fresh and his characters are vivid--but this vehicle is painfully misguided. When the victim says she's "not devastated" and wants to talk to her rapist (to ask if he thinks she's beautiful), the playwright is doing a grave disservice to the understanding of the violation. Consent was not given.... Read more Read less

See it if I can't recommend this play; I admire what it was trying to accomplish, but it was painful to sit through. Both overwrought& void of feeling

Don't see it if Skip this if you are looking for a coherent, smart play about sexual assault. This play is not that.

See it if you hate women - you want to laugh about rape, you want to laugh about women being raped, especially a 15 year old who is written cluelessly

Don't see it if you are not ready to laugh at rape or you think characters should have dignity, not be written condescendingly as if women have no brains

Also I tried to go with an open mind - a man writing a rape play? okay, but this was so offensive and so off-putting from beginning to end, and intensely long, and even the men in the audience were groaning. It is supposed to be absurd, but it portrays real situations and real actual responses in all too real ways, so where is the humor in this? Bad taste, bad choice, and the artistic director apologizes for it on the first page of the program. In this world - this is not the play to see.

The author might have stuck to the only compelling part of the play which is the relationship between the gay football player and the straight one -- there is play in there somewhere, but it wasn't on stage tonight.

So many stereotypes, no framing, and hurtful, nasty comments, and why does this main character have to be so clueless and dumb? I did not expect it to be beyond the pale awful, but it got worse and worse by the minute with cheap jokes and tasteless victim-blaming just like real life! Why?... Read more Read less

See it if You love cliché, strereotypes, all lost in a writting that try to send a message and be funny.. without succeeded in it

Don't see it if You hate actors playing teenagers by making them speak like if they were 6 years old

See it if Laughed out loud a few times, some of the actors were great! Good staging

Don't see it if You want to watch a thought-provoking or complicated play about rape

Also Actors were good! Just cliched writing with extremely broadly written characters with no coherent motivations or nuanced psychology. Left with no idea why the playwright wanted to write this or what he thought he was saying other than.. rape happens and is bad? Condescending in its obviousness, especially written by a man... Read more Read less