'Rabbit Hole' offers deep compassion

How do you handle grief and guilt?

PURE Theatre has gathered a prodigiously talented cast, hired a New York director, and produced an emotionally complex drama that explores answers to this question in exquisite detail, in exquisite pain.

David Lindsay-Abaire's 2007 Pulitzer Prize-winning play "Rabbit Hole" opened Friday night to a full house that left the East Bay Street location with full hearts, yet with deeper compassion and perhaps a new understanding of how we seek comfort in adversity.

Gene Lesser moves his cast of five around Amy Hills' well-appointed set with a natural rhythm that makes us think we have a peephole into the lives of a couple who have lost their 4-year-old son in a freak accident.

Sharon Graci takes an already powerful part of the heartbroken Mom, and makes it unforgettable. Dad David Mandel grieves in a different way, confronting his fears as well as the teen driver (Will Northcut, convincingly anxious and needy). Cynthia Barnett's fiery grandma tries so hard to help that it hurts, while her younger daughter (Jenny Pringle, in a sure characterization) pours more salt in the wounds than she intends.

Avoiding sentimentality, somehow never sinking into the maudlin, and even providing moments of humor, this production may temper your holiday cheer, but will insist you remember to be kind, be kind.