Boy Gets Girl

by Rebecca Gilman

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 New York, in Rebecca Gilman's tensely fascinating new play. When Theresa goes on an awkward blind date with a friend of a friend, she sees no reason to continue the relationship--but the man, an attractive fellow named Tony, thinks otherwise. While Theresa is at first annoyed yet flattered by his continuing attention, her attitude gradually changes to one of fear and fury when he starts violently to menace her and those around her.

In brilliantly delineating the kind of terror a woman in full control of her life feels when everything around her suddenly seems to be a threat, Gilman probes the dark side of relationships in the 1990s with the rich insight and compelling characterizations that have distinguished her earlier plays and made her one of the most exciting young playwrights working today.

Genres: Plays, Drama, Theatre, Feminism, Fiction, School, Read For School

120 pages, Paperback

First published May 29, 2000

Reviews

[Bri Little · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.25 stars

I don't often read plays, but I found this about a year ago at a used book store and thought it sounded interesting. I was intrigued by the time (late 90s) and location (New York City).

It's a quick read (I started and finished in just an hour), and I found myself relating to Theresa's character more than I wanted to. She withstands a lot of bullshit from men, and she internalizes the objectification because it's supposedly part of her job as a journalist. I really appreciated how that was named in the play. Despite Theresa's occasional capitulation to the male gaze, she knows what she does and doesn't want and often stands up to men when they're being gross or crossing boundaries.

Unfortunately, men like Tony are a dime a dozen because they feel entitled to women's time and attention. They refuse to listen to any form of "no" or even adequately read social cues that tell them a woman is uncomfortable around them. I would say that the most terrifying part of this play is the realistic portrayal of how men react to being romantically rejected. I was also very disappointed but unsurprised at the lackluster response from the police, who were not really able to help Theresa at all.

I don't think this play was meant to teach any lessons about feminism, but it does give a glimpse into how the male gaze and misogyny disrupt and topple women's lives in such a casual way.

[Anna · Rating 2 out of 5]

The problem with this play is that it feels like --- no, scratch that, it doesn't feel like much of anything. It's basically a dressed up version of Gender Studies 101, specifically the theory of the male gaze. Don't get me wrong -- I took and enjoyed Gender Studies 101, and the theory is pretty interesting. But this play is pretty flat, and appears to be written for shock value. I was hoping to find a slim, modern play with a strong female lead written by a female author to teach instead of Catcher in the Rye, but this isn't going to be it.

[Sean · Rating 5 out of 5]

A near perfect play about stalking, and more generally, the relations between men and women -- especially how men view women, and women view themselves. Absolutely gripping, and I thought Gilman does a great job of getting into mens' heads. She absolutely nails the men in her play, both good and bad guys. If she had help from a man to write some of the male characters, she got some really good help, and if she didn't have help, she should be a psychiatrist -- she's that spot-on.

[Megan Jensen Cleveland · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow. I begrudgingly read this play for a Script Analysis class, but ended up getting sucked in. I enjoyed this so much because it didn't feel like I was reading a play. I usually have difficulty reading plays because the dialogue creates a choppy feeling for me. But this play read like a story, and I appreciate that. I felt like I was in the midst of an episode of Criminal Minds, and my heart was actually racing at some of the more intense parts. I'm not saying this is a revolutionary piece of literature, but I got lost in the story in a way I haven't been able to do in a long time, so I think that impacts my feelings about this play a great deal. This got me out of a reading rut. Thank you, Boy Gets Girl.

[payshens · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5/5★
the protagonist of this play was being stalked by a man she went on ONE date with. it's so sad that we live in a time when a woman has to uproot her entire life because of a creepy, stalking man, rather systwms being put in place to ensure women's safety. not my favourite thing ive read, but very important.

[Romeo Channer · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don’t know! I like it. There’s some truly unsettling stuff in there, and I think it’s a great vehicle for a lead actress, and the different men surrounding Theresa all make for an interesting tapestry of masculine weirdness. But I feel it could have been tighter. Trying to envision it staged doesn’t excite me. I think I’d like it better as a novel or even a radio play, especially in the moments of real danger or psychological distress. Not to say it doesn’t work. I like Gilman’s writing, but I don’t know how much more I’d get out of the story watching it onstage than I did reading it.

[Calvin · Rating 4 out of 5]

"You don't get to make something theoretical about my life"

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very well-done and scary thriller. It has a bit of language but often to the end of making the piece more real and horrifying. The different ways in which people respond to women were also explored and made it a very thought-provoking and disturbing play.

[Gemma · Rating 2 out of 5]

This play really frustrates me. Gilman chooses an incredibly simplistic view of almost everything she purports to address—stalking, the skewed ways in which one gender perceives another, making life changes not by choice. Stalking, in particular, seems to me a *lot* more complicated than this, with much deeper effects on its object (emotional, not concrete—I suppose she gets the extreme of the concrete down pretty well). She could have solved this by developing Tony earlier, allowing them to spend a little more time together before we understood his instability—that would have allowed us to know Theresa as a character rather than a stalked archetype as well. But Gilman is only exploring ideas, and rather uninteresting ones, rather than telling a story.

But she's a pretty good writer of dialogue. Hence the second star.

[Cara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Totally took an exciting yet haunting turn from what I first thought to be a straight up comedy. Definitely made me think a lot about rape culture and the current political climate/circus that I'm viewing as a woman. Great play, would love to do it some day!

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

This play is much better when it is staged.

[Cris · Rating 4 out of 5]

"She asked me if I was there as a reporter or as a woman, and I said as a reporter, and she was disgusted. But I didn't want to say as a woman, because I hadn't had many good experiences as a woman, so when she presented me with another option, I jumped at it."

"Boy gets Girl" by Rebecca Gilman

Just by the title of this play we can guess what the story is about: a boy meets a girl, a boy likes a girl, a boy falls in love with a girl, and finally the boy gets the girl. As easy as it looks, right? Well, things are not that easy sometimes.

Gilman shows a story in two acts that feels too real for women nowadays. It's the story of Theresa, a powerful woman that lives on her own apartment, she has a job, and her life looks pretty much settled until she has a blind date with a boy called Tony, a stalker who will make her life a living hell.

Reading it I went trough many stages: cringe, creepy, hopeful, worried and last of all, the disturbing stage. The text itself is not much if you look at it, very clever and well built conversations. The real horror lays in the information they share, as we can feel how the stalker terrorises Theresa even if he barely appears on the play -- he doesn't even appear in the whole act two!

I loved those details, the way Gilman can inflect terror and empathy on us by building Theresa and also, by showing us the different relatioship she has with her boss and coworkers.

This is a play of relationships: relationships between women, between different men and different women, and relationship between men. This way we can see how the standards have been settled within the genders, as the play states, men are trained to look up women and women are trained to look good for men. Gilman tries to break this unspoken rule by creating a strong woman in a society that is still ruled by men, in which sooner or later, she will be forced to consent because, nowadays, one way or the other, the boy always gets the girl.

[Kat · Rating 5 out of 5]

Basic Plot: Reporter Theresa Bedell deals with a stalker.

This was an intense read from beginning to end, and I barely put it down once I got started. It didn't take long, either, but that is one of the glorious things about reading plays- they are fast reads.

This play was actually about a lot more than the stalking. It's about gender relationships and how we are taught to behave around the opposite sex. Behavior patterns that are actively encouraged by society can turn dark very quickly. There are issues of consent and boundaries that in a rom-com are funny or romantic, but in real life are DEAD CREEPY. Part of what makes this story so intense is how relatable it is, how realistic it is, and how very little there is that anyone can do to prevent it from happening.

I highly recommend it for reading. It would also make a good show to put on with the right group. It isn't a high school play, for sure, but a few of the scenes could easily be used for work in class or a speech event cutting.

[Sandra Amaya Garcia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Increíble. He devorado esta obra en dos horas. El mensaje es tan potente y tan real. No hay una situación en la obra con la que no me haya sentido identificada. Es, simplemente, una mujer escribiendo sobre los estándares con los que tienen que lidiar las mujeres en el día a día. A pesar de ser una obra con un claro mensaje feminista, los personajes masculinos como Mercer y Howard tampoco comprenden los estándares que les han impuesto e intentan ayudar a la protagonista en la medida de lo posible. Desde el principio, se nota que es una historia de acoso, ya que las red flags están ahí desde la primera cita. Con todo esto, Gilman plasma claramente la angustia y la desesperación que sufre una mujer acosada alejándonos de romantizarlo, cosa que desgraciadamente pasa en la sociedad.

[Caraline · Rating 2 out of 5]

I’m very torn about this one.

Very dated play, so much filler it makes getting to the good stuff nearly unbearable. The good scenes are great but it’s like looking for gems amongst the garbage. Tony and Les were great characters but underutilized, and it’s hard to really feel sympathy when the main character is so unlikeable and painfully one dimensional

[Helen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was so amazing! I love everything about this play! It's so realistic and important. I've worked on this show a little while ago, so maybe that's part of the reason why I love it so much, but it just covers such important topics in a thought out and touching way that it just has to be good.

[Stephanie Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

A play about one woman’s terrifying experience being stalked. Theresa agrees to a blind date with Tony. It’s just one beer; what could it hurt? Sure, it’s an extreme example, but every single woman I know has a story at least somewhat similar to what happens in this play.

[Randall David Cook · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic play. Haunting, and about far more than you initially expect.

[Luca Moore · Rating 2 out of 5]

Shallow drivel.

[Ted Parkhurst · Rating 5 out of 5]

Scary

[Adrienne · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this in a college literature class based all around reading plays. It has always stayed with me, I thought it was well done.

[bookster95 · Rating 2 out of 5]

Read like a very long episode of Law and Order: SUV and an Afterschool Special. The play is very dated.

[Sarah Alma Angelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Too real. Very much enjoyed this, even though the ending was a bit lacklustre. Still relevant two decades later.

[rachel jayn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oof.

[stefany]

monologues somewhere in here

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

very good but somewhat dated, though that does not detract from the play overall

[Daria · Rating 4 out of 5]

bit of a lacklustre ending, but otherwise quite good

wish I knew it was about stalkers before reading it though 😭

[Kaiti Marie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Good but scary. Lots of cursing as well. Definitely not for the faint of heart.

[Jules · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very hard to read this and not be affected by it, I couldn’t not feel and relate to all the anxiety and fear as a woman who has not even been stalked.

[James Binz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent. Tough subject very well done. Top notch dialogue and a powerhouse story.