Reckless

by Craig Lucas

At home on Christmas Eve, Rachel is informed by her guilty husband that he has hired a hitman to kill her, and she must flee for her life—which she does by scrambling out the kitchen window and into the snowy night. She meets and joins up with Lloyd Bophtelophti, a true "original" who has changed his name to avoid alimony payments and who now lives with a paraplegic named Pootie (who also pretends to be deaf in order to get double disability). Thus begins a series of picaresque escapades involving numerous psychiatrists, a TV game show, and, eventually, an ill-fated reunion with her husband. Filled with bizarre characters and events, the play reflects the fractured lifestyles which have become the norm for so many in our tenuous times.

Genres: Plays, Theatre, Drama, Fiction

72 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 1985

Reviews

[Edward Cheer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've gotta say, when I first started reading Reckless, I wasn't impressed. The story bounces around in the first act and the dialogue has a lot of strange corny moments in it. From an innocent family scene, to suddenly finding out that she has a contract her, Rachel is thrown from one absurd situation to another, all while talking mindlessly and annoying me personally while I read it. Then the second act began, and this got a little different...

See, Reckless is really good. The first act is a bit of a drag and a little too ridiculous for me to take seriously, but the second act calls all of the play into question. Reckless is a play about lies, and almost every character commits themselves to some lie. Rachel and Lloyd change their names, Pooty fakes being deaf, the announcer doesn't even know how to pronounce the fake name Bophtelophti. The second act takes the camp and charm away from the first act and says, "Yeah, your life could be one big lie. All of these sappy moments could be the icing on the cake. You could just be lonely. Or mental. Or something else entirely."

By the end of the play, you're not entirely sure what is going on. Who's who and doing what they're doing exactly, which is certainly intentional. But it all plays into the absurd idea of our modern American, where lies are so easily permitted. Television, radio, even charity organizations lie regularly to everyday people, and it's often hard to distinguish what's true and what's fake. In that regard, I recommend Reckless, and I'm even making it a favorite, but I will warn you about the first act. It's a hump to get over, but the play gets really good after act two starts.

[Yuko Akita · Rating 4 out of 5]

At first I knew this story from the movie.
Then I started to read this book.
Even though this story is very strange,
(Maybe some people don’t like)
the end of story is very heartwarming and some lines are very great.


This line also...
Do you think we ever really know people?

自分に一番近いと思ってる人(家族、恋人)の事を、
本当に知ってるのかな？
心の中(痛みや、言わない言葉)まではわからない。
知ってると思っていても、それは勘違いしてるかも。
Do I really know person close to me ?
What do they really want to tell me ?
勘違いがなくなれば、とてもいい。
主人公のように。

Life’s been reckless,I don’t know what will happen but if I try to wake up from the nightmare, things will change.

[bella issa · Rating 4 out of 5]

BAFFLED but i think i am starting to get it

(indeed)

[windsor · Rating 4 out of 5]

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

“the past is something we wake up from.”

my only complaint was that this play was too short. although, considering i had to read it for a class and put off the reading until the morning of, i suppose it was the perfect length.

this was a very good play. the characters were unique, the names even more unique. half the time i barely had any idea what was going on, but the general idea of the play didn’t escape me (or so i hope).

i recommend this to anyone looking for a new outlook on the year, struggling with the holidays, stuck in the past, or has spent the past couple years in a state of reckless abandonment. see what i did there? title drop.

[Grace Feidt · Rating 2 out of 5]

What an odd play. It's very absurdist, and to be honest, the only good scenes are the first and last. Were there certain parts that were dream sequences? What exactly was going on? It jumps around a lot, and it doesn't really hold up against the passage of time. If you want to read a play that successfully pulls of the absurdist, jumping around qualities of this play, check out Paula Vogel's The Baltimore Waltz.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

Deranged and chaotic ouroboros ~
Have fun losing your mind and laughing along against the glow of the TV screen. Just like life!

(i fear to watch the film adaptation... on one hand the cast is intriguing, on the other, this feelz designed specifically only for the stage (and on a third hand from out my pineal gland, the playwright adapted it for the screen so... blerg))

[Ana ♥ · Rating 4 out of 5]

A few people who reviewed this book said that the beginning was slow, or some sort of hump to get over, but I genuinely enjoyed this play cover to cover. The concept was outlandish and entertaining, characters were captivating, and the absurdist, obscure reality show scenes and the ending were both confusing and fascinating.

Would love to see it on a stage someday!

[Kathryn. A · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love how fast-paced the plot was. Rachel as a character was so interesting, it just felt as if the ending was cut short, but I adored this nonetheless!

[Paul Bruce · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5

[madeline · Rating 4 out of 5]

A beautiful and unpredictable play. Rachel is so strong and admirable despite everything she goes through. Very original and entertaining

[Cori · Rating 2 out of 5]

A few good monologues. I'm still mulling this one over. It was oddly wacky. The wackiness of Act I was one thing -charming, funny- but then the number of scenes and the even wackier it got during Act II had my head spinning a bit. I imagine it would be a riot to see.


(TBG)

[Marissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

There’s an entire sub-genre of American drama in which, through forces beyond her control, a sweet but scattered woman gets thrown into increasingly bizarre situations involving an array of oddball characters. These plays tend to be fast-paced lampoons of television, psychiatry, the nuclear family, and all the other ways in which we try to pretend that everything is all right. And while your initial reaction such a play is likely to be “How wacky!”, by the end of it you may be saying, instead, “How sad!” Christopher Durang has written several plays like this; David Lindsay-Abaire’s Fuddy Meers is another example. And after reading Craig Lucas’ Reckless, which premiered in the mid-1980s, I’m willing to bet that it helped codify a lot of the elements of this sub-genre. It’s the story of a young wife and mother named Rachel who is forced to flee her house in bathrobe and slippers one Christmas Eve after her husband confesses he’s hired a hitman to kill her. From there, the play mounts a satirical assault on the institutions and customs of “normal” American life. No one’s who they say they are; psychiatrists are useless; bizarre violent crimes abound. And if Rachel makes a reckless decision or two along the way, it’s only because, as another character says, “life’s been reckless with [her].”

[M. H. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Quite the whirlwind play. The plot does some truly wondrous loop-de-loops, you never know if you're coming or going, and yet it all comes together in the end. The last line of the play makes the whole whirlwind worthwhile-and brings tears.

Rachel Fitsimmons loves Christmas. But this Christmas her husband has a surprise for her - he's paid a hit man to kill her. Out of guilt he orders her away. Stumbling into the snow she tries to reach a friend, who doesn't believe her. So instead she hitchhikes away with Lloyd, who lives with his parapelegic and deaf wife Pooty. They let Rachel stay, only now she goes by Mary Ellen, and it turns out that Pooty can actually talk, and Lloyd changed his name to get out of paying alimony for a crippled wife & children that he left because he was drunk and ran over one of their boys.

Things go from odd to bizarre when Rachel, Pooty, & Lloyd win money on a talk-show. Because Rachel's husband recognizes her, and comes to get her. Only they drink some champagne that's been drugged ... and well, three deaths, an attempted murder and another fifteen years later and Rachel is a therapist - with a very special client right before Christmas.

[Letitia · Rating 2 out of 5]

While there are many positive aspects to this play, I simply cannot give it more than a couple stars. I realize that this is theatre, folks, but there is a limit to how far my credulity can be stretched. I can comprehend two, perhaps three bizarre random things happening to one person in the course of a play. But eight and counting? By the second act I was completely disconnected simply because I could no longer relate any of the characters to true life any more.

[Kristy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Holds up amazingly well considering when it was written (I'm thinking of how I feel like a lot of the madcap 80s comedies have aged kind of badly, like Fuddy Meers). This feels like a very new play until partway through the second act, then it gets a little... not quite what it was in the beginning.

[sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is hilarious. Also, Mary Louise Parker is in the movie.

[Wayne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Every little odd detail fits in perfectly in this VERY bizarre journey. We who write plays take in & exhale a great savored "Ah." Yes.

[Chambers Stevens · Rating 5 out of 5]

I directed this wonderful play.
It is so underrated.