Hurlyburly
by David Rabe

Name: Hurlyburly
Brand: David Rabe
SKU: 9780573619816
Rating: 3.5 (321 reviews)

Hurlyburly Book Cover — Hurlyburly Cover

Highlights

Small Cast

Female

Male

120 minsAmerican

What readers are saying

Readers have a divided opinion on this play, with many praising its intense and chaotic depiction of 1980s Hollywood while others find it dated and lacking in character development. Some are captivated by the brilliant dialogue and the exploration of themes like addiction and alienation. However, others express disappointment with its misogyny and lack of a coherent plot, suggesting a preference for seeing it staged rather than read.

Intense and well-writtenBrilliant dialogueCaptivating portrayal of addictionThought-provoking and chaoticDated and lacks character depthMisogyny is a concernSome find it difficult to engage

Synopsis

Full Length, Drama Characters: 4 male, 3 female Interior Set This riveting drama took New York by storm in a production directed by Mike Nichols and starring William Hurt, Sigourney Weaver, Judith Ivey, Christopher Walken, Harvey Keitel, Cynthia Nixon and Jerry Stiller.

Characters nose deep in the decadent, perverted, cocaine culture that is Hollywood, pursing a sex crazed, drug-addled vision of the American Dream.

Later stage and screen incarnations have attracted such actors as Ethan Hawke, Meg Ryan, Sean Penn, and Kevin Spacey.

"Offers some of Mr. Rabe's most inventive and disturbing writing.

At his impressive best, Mr. Rabe makes grim, ribald and surprisingly compassionate comedy out of the lies and ationalizations that allow his alienated men to keep functioning if not feeling in the fogs of Lotusland.

They work in an industry so corrupt that its only honest executives are those who openly admit that they lie."-

The New York Times

"An important work, masterfully accomplished."-

Time

"A powerful permanent contribution to American drama...Riveting, disturbing, fearsomely funny...Has a savage sincerity and a crackling theatrical vitality.

This deeply felt play deserves as wide an audience as possible."-

Newsweek

ThemesGoodman Theatre (Chicago)Westwood Playhouse (Los Angeles)