Devil Inside

by David Lindsay-Abaire

Mrs. Slater has waited fourteen long years to tell her son, Gene, the truth. And when he wakes up on his twenty-first birthday, she greets him with the customary banners and good wishes, and then gets to the point. "Your father was murdered. He was stabbed in the back and his feet were lopped off and thrown into a drainage ditch." Thus begins a comic and twisted journey of obsession and revenge. Gene would rather focus his attentions on Caitlin, a passionate literature major, than avenge the death of his 400-pound father who was killed in the Poconos Mountains while walking cross-country to lose weight. Caitlin barely notices the na

Genres: Plays, Theatre, Drama

64 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2000

About the author

David Lindsay-Abaire is an American playwright and lyricist. He received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 2007 for his play, Rabbit Hole.

Reviews

[nikolai · Rating 2 out of 5]

this feels like a fever dream

[Tung · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am a massive fan of Lindsay-Abaire's Pulitzer-winning play "Rabbit Hole", and was looking forward to reading his earlier works. A Devil Inside is his first play, written nearly a decade before "Rabbit Hole". The plot focuses on a young man named Gene whose mother informs him on his 21st birthday that his father had actually been murdered rather than dying from a heart attack as Gene had believed for fourteen years. His mother tells Gene that the truth is that when his father was walking through the Poconos to lose weight, he was stabbed in the back and his feet were severed, and it is up to Gene to figure out what happened and avenge his father's death. Meanwhile, Gene is in love with a girl in his Russian Literature class named Caitlin who in turn is in love with the class professor -- a crazy man named Carl who believes he is living out some kind of Dostoevsky novel. Carl is obsessed with killing a man named Brad who is obsessed with a girl named Lily with a mysterious past. If it sounds contorted and crazy, it absolutely is. The play is a dark comedy with clear influences from Russian literature (especially Chekhov's dark humor). Overall, I have mixed feelings about this play. On one hand, there are some seriously hysterical lines throughout, and Lindsay-Abaire's handling of scenes and transitions and atmosphere hints at the greatness later perfected in "Rabbit Hole". On the other hand, I found the contorted plot too clever by half, and the resolution and (already anticipated) tying together of plot threads made me sigh with exasperation at the end. There was also no depth or emotional core in A Devil Inside (I get that I am reading this in direct comparison to "Rabbit Hole" and not as a stand-alone, but it is what it is). Worth a read as shallow and quick entertainment, but nothing more than that. Recommended (but barely).

[Lizzie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I own a copy of this? Ok.

Well, I really hate when this criticism is used -- I technically disapprove -- but: this seems like "student work". It just does. It works at the level of, this is a play and it shakes out an ending. Even a thematic thread, or at least something repeated often enough to appear to be a theme. And it plots a lot of characters sufficiently.

But the ingredients don't blend. They're like a kid "baking" in the kitchen. The actions and statements of all the people are random and strange, and that's not my preferred style of theater. There's a bit of willful freak-show ick factor, which is one of my least favorite devices in theater also. Some of the humor would be funny with benefit of actors, but some of it totally not. And I guess Gene is the main character, but he's so insignificant he barely even belongs there.

Also I have no clue whether we're seeing the wallpaper devil on stage or not. Did I miss a direction? I thought it was imaginary until it "stormed in" or whatever. I'd like to be clear on that, since Brad's unscrewing was the most interesting.

It's all right. I only read this while I was waiting for Chris to finish Mockingjay anyway.

[Hunter · Rating 4 out of 5]

David Lindsay-Abaire is truly unmatched when it comes to absurdist comedy on stage. Entirely underrated and I CANNOT BELIEVE there’s no film adaptation of this 😭 I’m sure the foot bit was funnier before the popularization of wikifeet but I still giggled. I wish Caitlin had a good audition monologue because that role is perfect for me.

[Xanthi_ · Rating 2 out of 5]

Άξιζε να το διαβάσω για να δω για άλλη μια φορά πόσο διαφορετικές πτυχές διαθέτει ο θεατρικός συγγραφέας, η συγκεκριμένη πτυχή του πυρετικού ονείρου όπου πρωταγωνιστούν κομμένα ανθρώπινα μέλη ήταν η λιγότερο αγαπημένη μου, στάθηκε ευκαιρία για να ξαναθυμηθω πόσο αγαπώ το rabbit hole και ακόμα περισσότερο το good people.

[Corianna Chauncy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was bloody and ridiculous and I wasn't really sure what was going on at any point.

[Anna McGuire · Rating 3 out of 5]

So this was um.... very foot forward

[Morgan · Rating 5 out of 5]

AMAZING! Another crazy romp through the bizarre and disconnected world that Lindsey-Abaire creates so flawlessly. Completely zany, with plot points taken almost straight from the Russian classics, it somehow manages to leave all the characters dead but the audience laughing.

"I have a devil in my eye."

[Mimi Wolske · Rating 2 out of 5]

Crazy as Lindsay'Abaire's other plays but after "Rabbit Hole" it can only be a read for the playwright and the entertainment value. If you don't know the playwright and you don't like to read plays, then I don't recommend this. BUT, if you like David Lindsay-Abaire's works, this I will only suggest you might read if for no other reason than to say you have.

[Ann · Rating 5 out of 5]

Didn't realize this was Lindsay-Abaire. Love this play! Love the connection to Russian literature and the sheer ridiculousness of the story/play/arc. Would love to direct this one day. Wonderful & hilarious!

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

A bit hard to follow, but one of my favorite "Black Box" plays. A Devil Inside is a complex and delightful mix of whodunit, black comedy, and descent into absolute madness.