This Week's Standing Ovation Goes to GH's Liz Rebecca Herbst Featured in Soap Opera News
In the blink of an eye, innocence lost. No longer the young woman anticipating the romantic, fairy tale of first love. Instead, the victim of one man's violent outburst of carnal hunger. If only the monster could be stopped before he kills another flesh spirit - be made to feel the inescapable fear of being the hunted.
Rebecca Herbst's realistic and heartbreaking portrayal of Elizabeth Webber coming face to face with her brutal rapist earns her this weeks's standing ovation.
Herbst's poignant performance has tugged at the heartstrings ever since last winter's rape. The horror and shame were always reflected in her eyes. Her shaky voice revealed the terror of never being able to erase the memory. And all the while GH was also spinning out one of its most touching and tender love stories in years, that of Lucky and Liz. Based of trust, friendship, affection and communication, these teen's relationship has brought the heart back to General Hospital.
Accolades must be paid to the writers of Liz's story, especially Michelle Valjean, whose candor about her own rape gave Herbst the emotional guidance of where to take her character. Valjean's ability to translate her experience into words of a character is quite a gift, not just for viewers but also as a confirmation to other victims that their pain and anger are real. Pushing down the fear doesn't necessarily push it away.
We, the viewers, understand and have acknowledges Liz's all-consuming preoccupation with discovering who her rapist was in hopes of closing this chapter in her life. The fear on her face when she discovered Tom was the perpetrator clearly revealed that Liz was reliving those terrible moments in the park. "You...you...you said, 'not a word,' and then you raped me," she said as she backed away from him.
As Tom's arrogant confession spilled out, he mocked her attempt at recovery. "Did they remember to tell you that is wasn't your fault?" he taunted. "Because that's important."
As she later huddled in a ball on the floor of the darkroom, Liz's memory of the rape overcame her, and her body started to rock with the fear of a repeat offense. But this time, she wouldn't let Tom get away. This time her reflexes would take her somewhere else. Even as Tom pointed a gun at her and her friends, Liz's strength surfaced. Lucky and Nikolas jumped Tom, the gun flew and Liz picked it up - threatening to kill the man we'd
terrorized her. Her hands shaking as he pointed the gun at him, she quietly but firmly asserted, "You thought you were my first. You liked that, didn't you? You got to make me bleed? That was a night of filth, but it washed away. You aren't a man." Her angry eyes staring down, she pointed at Lucky and Nikolas, "This is a man, and this is a man. Do you understand that?"
Suddenly, a switch flipped in her and she realized that this animal needed to be caged, not killed. Her muscles began to loosen as a calm came over her. "You know, I want you to live Tom. I want people to know what you did. I want to see the disgust in their faces. And I want you to go to jail. Who knows? Maybe there you'll begin to understand something about rape." Picking up the phone, she called the police.
Yes, the words written for her were brilliant. But Herbst have life to those words. We felt each transition in Liz's thoughts and feelings. We felt her fear. Then we felt her anger. Then we felt her take control over the situation. We experienced each experience with her. A television set no longer existed. The audience was in that photo studio, standing beside her, repulsed by this man.
Acting can be defined as "to represent as real that which is not." If that defiantly runs true, Rebecca Herbst surely knows how to act.
