Boy Gets Girl: A Play

by Rebecca Gilman

Book Overview

What is a stalker? And what kind of life can a woman lead when she knows she is being followed, obsessively and perhaps dangerously, by one? This is the dilemma facing Theresa Bedell, a reporter in... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0571199836
• Release Date: May 2000
• Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
• Length: 128 Pages
• Weight: 2.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.5" x 0.3" x 5.5"

Customer Reviews

Gripping, shocking, thought provoking.

This play is well written and addresses disturbing contemporary social issues of individual rights and boundaries. I highly recommend it.

Outstanding theatre

This is a rare case of a play being great to read but even better when on stage. As one of the cast in Spontaneous Productions' performance of this show in September of 2002 in Boise, Idaho I think I can safely say that the audience was moved and made to think. The subject matter of stalking and the wide spread repurcussions made more than a few of the patrons come away with a better grasp of how tragic this crime is. Read the book, but if you have the chance, see the play.

Not an attack on men

This play was a beautifully written analysis of society's veiw on relationships. Contrary to belief, it is not an attack on men, but the way that our society has formed men and the potential hazard that it poses. It is shocking, yet holds a strong and effective message. I recommend it to anyone who consider what society makes us.

OVERRATED??

I read this play in a theater class in college. I cannot understand how anyone can say that this play is overrated! Gilman developed the characters to the extent that I couldnt put it down! I loved this play!

THERE'S SOMETHING ABOUT STALKING

Gilman has said that she was inspired to write this play after being infuriated by THERE'S SOMETHING ABOUT MARY and the light way the movie handles stalking. It's typical that Hollywood excuses that behavior when the pov is the stalker's-- and this myth just further encourages men to think it's "romantic" to harass a woman. Gilman has a point.Yes, this play is issue driven, but it is no Lifetime movie with a ready solution or a clear moral. We're as taken in as the overworked editor by the nice guy she meets on a blind date. His desperation to please is at first puppy-dog cute. The mental instability that drives him not to take no for an answer but to persist, first romantically, then violently, as a stalker, is revealed with skill, so that like the main character the audience can feel the walls close in.One of the nice subplots in the play involves an interview Theresa is doing with a publisher of pornography. Despicable though his profession is, she can't help but liking him personally. Appearances can be deceiving, and people are more than the sum of their careers.Things go from bad to really bad. Ultimately, Theresa has to abandon her entire life-- the police can't promise real protection, and though she fires the idiot assistant who thought the stalker's wanting to deliver flowers was romantic (and thus allows the stalker access to Theresa), there will always be another person so taken in. She won't be safe until she takes on another identity. Not a lot of people have given much thought to the damage a determined harasser can do. It's terrifying stuff, and frightening to watch. Gilman writes wonderful, clear dialogue, and it's an engrossing play to read as well.