Collective Rage: A Play in 5 Betties

by Jen Silverman

In Collective Rage, the lives of five very different New York women named Betty collide at the intersection of anger, sex and “theat-ah.” As they meet, fall in love, rehearse, revel and rage, they realise that they've been stuck reading the same scripts for far too long.They all come from different backgrounds, and are bored or angry about different things, but the Betty's - each one numbered 1-5 - come together to rehearse a new version of Pyramus and Thisbe, the play within a play in A Midsummer Night's Dream. What follows are discoveries, transformations and raucous comedy. Hitting the ring with an electrifying soundtrack, looks to kill and spectacular routines, this outrageous comedy packs the punch to shatter lacquered femininity into a thousand glittering pieces. Strongly influenced by cabaret and female drag, this exquisite rejection of shame and stereotype will punch you in the gut, break your heart and then take you dancing.Collective Rage had its UK premiere at the Southwark Playhouse.

Genres: Plays, LGBT, Queer Lit

136 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 24, 2018

About the author

Jen Silverman is a New York-based writer. Born in the U.S., she was raised across the U.S., Europe and Asia. Her theatre work includes The Moors (Yale Repertory Theatre premiere, off-Broadway with The Playwrights Realm, Susan Smith Blackburn finalist); The Roommate (Actor’s Theatre of Louisville Humana world premiere, multiple regional productions including South Coast Rep, SF Playhouse and Williamstown Theatre Festival, upcoming at Steppenwolf); Phoebe In Winter (Off-off Broadway with Clubbed Thumb); Collective Rage: A Play in 5 Betties (Woolly Mammoth premiere); and All the Roads Home, a play with songs (Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park premiere).

Jen is a member of New Dramatists, a Core Writer at the Playwrights Center in Minneapolis, an affiliated artist with SPACE on Ryder Farm, and has developed work with the O’Neill, New York Theatre Workshop, Playpenn, Portland Center Stage, The Ground Floor Residency at Berkeley Rep, and the Royal Court in London among other places. She’s a two-time MacDowell fellow, recipient of a New York Foundation for the Arts grant, the Helen Merrill Award, an LMCC Fellowship, and the Yale Drama Series Award. She was the 2016-2017 Playwrights of New York (PoNY) Fellow at the Lark. Jen has a two-book deal with Random House for a collection of stories (The Island Dwellers, pub date May 1, 2018) and a novel. Education: Brown, Iowa Playwrights Workshop, Juilliard.

Reviews

[Olivia Moffa · Rating 3 out of 5]

“You should never go to a dinner party thrown by lesbians, you don’t know what might happen!”

[Doug · Rating 3 out of 5]

From reading reviews and seeing photos of the original production, I can see that there is a lot more to the PRODUCTION of the play than is self evident from its rather facile (and frankly, at times, juvenile) script. There isn't much depth here, other than what is initially apparent in the set-up and the first few scenes - the rest of the play just kind of fills in the colors in the cartoonish outlines.

[Jack Lewis · Rating 4 out of 5]

No matter who you are, you’ll see some of yourself as at least one Betty.

[belle · Rating 5 out of 5]

my friend & classmate was in a production of this as betty #5. which is great because this is probably in my top 5 lesbian plays of all time. laughed and cried <3

[charlotte ennen · Rating 4 out of 5]

this is insane. and i loved it

[Lucy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really liked it but possibly too experimental for me...I'm finding out I love experimental music and musicals but more experimental plays may not be my thing

[Bebe Marzano · Rating 5 out of 5]

absolutely ADORED this play ty al for sending it to me i NEED to play betty 3 someday in my life bc oh my god she’s absolutely perfect. she’s so powerful, over the top, hyper femme, AND a lesbian so there’s really nothing that could go wrong and nothing did. this play was so so funny while also so so real and honest and i can’t wait to see a staged production of this some day, maybe i’ll even be in one. pls. as betty 3. there are definitely some monologues i could possibly pull from this one but they’re not really the best for auditions. i think this could be a great play to pull a scene from if ever needed. but anyway, LOVE!

[Edie Hoesterey · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my favorite play. Read it last year and loved. Read it again tn w my friends and cast them in and the parts and it was so accurate to our lives and personal journies it was beautiful and crazy illuminating. I think I could read this 50 times and still not unpack all of the potential metaphors and allegories in there. But also its so fun! And its a super heightened, surrealist version of my life and of society??

[kenzie · Rating 3 out of 5]

read this about 5 times in one day for my presentation i was too hungover too attend :,( a very interesting read though; i like silverman’s writing style & her integration of the bizarre without much explanation. love queer people & there is a lot to analyse in terms of the bettie’s and their respective roles in the meta-theatrical ‘play in a play’ (in a play). justice for betty 2.

[Are · Rating 5 out of 5]

i loved reading this play. while i agree with lots of other reviews saying the story is hard to follow on the page, i think a big chunk of the heart and the energy of the play comes from the stage directions. i'd love to direct this, i'd love to perform in it, i love queer and lesbian and trans art like this. i love how absurd it is, i love how genuine and raw it is.

[William Tway · Rating 3 out of 5]

Everyone being named Betty was very interesting and would read so so much better if this was on stage (obviously). So, Right now I'm staying at three stars but that might change if I ever watch it in person.

[Caleb Van · Rating 4 out of 5]

While I thoroughly enjoyed reading the show, I felt as though sometimes it was a bit too much? I think the suspension of belief doesn’t work when reading material, so I’d have to see it. However the dialogue felt authentic most of the time, except when… yknow, a pussy came on stage and sang.

[Gray Jabaji · Rating 4 out of 5]

this okay was so all over the place but i kinda loved how chaotic it was. i wish there were trigger warnings cus there were a few kinda serious topics discussed in an unserious manner but this was definitely one of the better things i’ve had to read for school!

[Abraham Castillo Heins · Rating 4 out of 5]

Funny and inventive, but also deeply vulnerable and sad. Jen's ability to create a loneliness that floods through the cracks of the characters is outstanding. And the overall portrayal of an unbearable desolation, while still being able to make the reader laugh, is an achievment.

[Elly Roberts · Rating 5 out of 5]

really fun :))

[Kaley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think this play is just brilliant

[Abigail · Rating 4 out of 5]

Women, written by a woman, discussing womanhood and rage? So compelling. And freeing? And uncomfortable? And beautiful? And awkward? And relatable? Go off Jen.

[Sophia M · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredible!

[Caitlin Baker · Rating 4 out of 5]

On my list of things to see performed.

[Corinne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hilarious and relatable

[Tillie]

read for class

[Kyle Edens · Rating 4 out of 5]

slayyyy!

[H]

Justice for Betty 2.

this says it's a New York play, but it reads very London to me.

[Amrita]

Obsessed. So laugh out loud funny

[adison holland · Rating 5 out of 5]

SO GOOD!!!

[Lucy Chesley · Rating 4 out of 5]

this was INSANE. i loved the satire of it along with the betty analogy for sexuality being fluid and different. thought this was incredibly clever

[Zoe Clark · Rating 5 out of 5]

one of my favorite plays ever, a DREAM project

[chloe · Rating 3 out of 5]

Girls are bad. They’re bad for you.
You know?
They can really fuck you up.

[Megan Malcolm · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yes.

[Nina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ideja teksta je bolja od samog teksta