“The Gingerbread House,” a new play by Mark Schultz at the Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, hits an iceberg just a few minutes into the first scene, in which a young married couple chill on the living room couch in front of the television.
Toys and general kiddie detritus surround them in disarray, suggesting a wearying day of parenthood. Brian (Jason Butler Harner) stirs from his exhausted slouch. “Honey,” he says, “I think we should sell the kids.”
Stacey (Sarah Paulson) responds with a blank stare and a light laugh. “Maybe we can get a new fridge,” she says dryly.
But Brian isn’t kidding. He’s sick of the children. “We can start our lives again,” he says in a coaxing tone. “We can have it back. All of it.”
“The moral of “The Gingerbread House†would appear to be that retailing your children to strangers will not bring satisfaction.”
you don’t say???
Clearly, it’s not Thomas Hardy.
What a commentary on our society at all socio-economic levels. The commodification of children as trophies, vicarious mini-me’s, or tickets to better income.
When you aren’t satisfied with what life looks like post-childbirth, dumb the product of childbirth and start over. Selfishness at it’s best.
That should be “dump the product”, not “dumb the product”.
Perhaps Brian should have given more thought to birth control. Certainly he could have found one or two contraceptive methods to be acceptable to his preferences.