A Continuous Metaphor: Theater in Revolutionary Road Hanna Cunningham College

Richard Yates’s Revolutionary Road unveils the emptiness of suburban life by incorporating a play into the opening paragraphs and then continuing a metaphor of theater throughout the rest of the novel. The novel opens with theatrical failure that foreshadows the evident downfall of Frank and April’s lives. The book characters take on their own theatrical roles in the suburban setting they are all forced to act in. The theatrical production of the opening chapter becomes an enduring metaphor that starts in the author’s decision to begin the novel with a production of The Petrified Forest, and is fulfilled through the performances of both Frank and April as they strive to act in a way that lines up with their suburban lifestyle.

The Laurel Players presentation of The Petrified Forest juxtaposed with the rest of the novel uncovers the truth of the suburbs. Painfully embarrassing, the cast’s performance becomes difficult to watch. The audience cringes with each passing moment as April attempts to play her part. While acting, April is described as having “lost her grip” causing the audience to all become “embarrassed for her” as “she had begun to alternate between false theatrical gestures and a white-knuckled immobility” (Yates,...