Down the Rabbit Hole

About This Show

Written and performed by Erin Jividen, the show opens on a young professional woman who escapes to her childhood home following a painful break-up. With her parents out, she opens a bottle of wine and begins an evening of wallowing in self-pity while rediscovering her old bedroom, a shocking vision of pink sheets, giant fluffy rabbits, fake tiaras, Barbie dolls, Disney detritus and fairytale collections. She opens up a copy of Cinderella and skips to the end: “They got married and lived happily ever after … Bleurgh!”

Then, Jividen strips to her underwear and walks over to a clothes rack. She just happens to have a rack of dress-up clothes in the corner. A quick transformation, a music and lighting cue, and she becomes a sexually frustrated middle-aged Cinders, married to a homosexual Prince.

Some, like the Cinders song, are frivolous. A few are deadly serious. For example, an anorexic Goldilocks is locked up for the theft of porridge, and sings plaintively from her cell about her binge-eating problem. It sounds odd, and it is. It is also powerful, and strikes a chord with the crowd.

Each character, comic or tragic, develops the theme of female empowerment, as the freshly heartbroken protagonist rediscovers in the stories her will to live and love again. Tinkerbell is presented finally as the ultimate symbol of the independent woman who doesn’t compromise but waits for true love to arrive.

Show Details

Dates: Opening Night: October 10, 2008 Final Performance: November 12, 2008