Starting Over

This Wide Night – Shattered Globe Theatre and Interrobang Theatre Project

Georgette Verdin, Interrobang Theatre Project’s talented Artistic Director, deftly collaborates with Shattered Globe Theatre to tell a gorgeous, heartbreaking story that feels perfect for our times. Seldom do either of these theatre companies disappoint, and this production, their re-entrance into the much-awaited world of live theatre in Chicago, is as strong as ever. At first, Chloe Moss’ one-act drama doesn’t seem to be about very much. But as the scenes wash over you, the audience finds itself plunging headfirst into this two-hander, discovering that it’s actually about a number of topics. In particular, this is a story about starting over and about our universal need for one another.

Following the pandemic shutdown, most everyone has felt the loneliness from being locked up inside our homes for over a year. We can somewhat empathize with what Marie and Lorraine are experiencing in this play, trying to learn how to make our way with others in a brave new world. Of course, the situations differ in that these two women have both spent time incarcerated in a women’s prison, but the awkwardness of their newly-found freedom is the same. After being cooped up for months and months, it can be difficult relearning how to socialize again and interacting face-to-face with others.

Lorraine has spent the past twelve years imprisoned for murder. Finally awarded her freedom, the fifty-year-old is on her way to an assigned halfway house. But first she decides to pay a visit to Marie, her former young cellmate. Lorraine insists that she just wants to stop and see how her friend Marie is faring since leaving prison. Marie’s a twenty-something young woman who was incarcerated for a much shorter time for an unspecified lesser crime. Upon reentering society, she’s found a low-paying job at a nearby pub and is barely surviving alone in her rundown studio apartment. But the two women not only shared a cell, but developed a kind of parent/child relationship.

We first see Marie curled up on a chair in the flickering light of a broken portable TV set. The silence is broken by an unexpected pounding at the door. Frightened to answer so late at night, Marie is surprised to find Lorraine standing there with all her belongings. After some awkward pleasantries, she eventually tells Lorraine that she can stay with her, but only for this one night. But that single night turns into several months.

Over the course of time, Marie goes off to work while Lorraine stays in the apartment reading or watching TV. They share the broken sofa bed and nothing much seems to happen. There are lies, quarrels and conversations that seem to go nowhere. Pizzas get eaten, beers are consumed; games are played; a familiar song inspires a dance of freedom, and their awkward friendship eventually binds the two together. In the end, Lorraine reluctantly admits that her grownup son Ben no longer wants his mother back in his life. Marie confesses that she hasn’t worked at the pub for months and is having to make ends meet on the street. Within the shadowy gloom of a rainy night, Marie ends up cradled in Lorraine’s protective arms. She cries out in anguish, “I want my mum.” It’s in these final, tender moments that we truly empathize with these two vulnerable women. We understand that freedom won’t ever be happily-ever-after for them. But, as it was back in their prison cell, Lorraine and Marie will continue to be there for each other.

In addition to Georgette Verdin’s incredibly sensitive direction, the production boasts a stark, naturalistic scenic design by Sotirios I. Livaditis, Trey Brazeal’s moody, atmospheric lighting and a perfect original music and a dismal sound design by Christopher Kriz. This production is a positive must-see. It’s a moving portrait of desperation and loneliness, survival and friendship. Elise Kauzlaric has worked magic with her two actresses, providing authentic dialect instruction and coaching that will convince audiences that these two women are truly British, teetering on the brink of hopelessness.

Linda Reiter, a multi-Jeff Award winner, is nothing short of magnificent as Lorraine. It’s almost hard to believe that this is the same talented actress who has played such diverse roles as Jennifer in “The Realistic Joneses,” Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy in the one-person show, “Rose,” and the Mother of Jesus in “The Testament of Mary.” As a lower class British woman who’s served time for murder, she molds Lorraine into a gift for the audience to experience. In Ms Reiter’s capable hands, Lorraine is a lady filled with optimism, real or forced, with a definite joy for living that most of us would find impossible, under the circumstances. She’s realistic and lovable, although her nonstop babbling might drive most of us to drink. But Ms Reiter’s earnest portrayal is always consistent, multi-layered and constantly surprising us at every turn.

Aila Ayilam Peck is incredible as Marie. Adding this taxing role to an already impressive resume, Aila may be remembered for her Shattered Globe debut as a more sophisticated Brit in “Five Mile Lake.” A complete turnabout in this role, Ms Peck was also delightful as Jane in “Miss Bennett: Christmas at Pemberley” at Northlight, as a wide-eyed janitorial intern in “The Royal Society of Antarctica” at the Gift Theatre and in several different roles in Steep Theatre’s impressive “Birdland.” Here Ms Peck shows two sides of a young woman for whom survival is constantly a slippery slope. She’s both tough as nails and vulnerable as a child, but always truthful and deserving of our empathy.

In “This Wide Night,” Chloe Moss has taken a situation, inspired by personal conversations with real-life British prisoners, and presented two characters who have found a new kind of incarceration awaiting them after they’ve been freed from their jail cells. Marie and Lorraine learn that to find true freedom they must learn to adjust to the outside world and create an interdependence with each other. It’s also a lesson, following the restrictions of the pandemic, that many of us are all having to learn. 

Highly Recommended

Reviewed by Colin Douglas

Presented October 8-November 13, co-produced by Shattered Globe Theatre & Interrobang Theatre’s Project, at Theatre Wit, 1229 W Belmont Ave., Chicago

Tickets are available at the box office, by calling 773.975.8150 or by going to www.sgtheatre.org.

Additional information about this and other area productions can be found by visiting www.theatreinchicago.com.