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This Wide Night
Edie Falco and Alison Pill explore the unique bond formed by prison inmates
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In this intimate emotional drama, Edie Falco and Alison Pill explore the deep but complicated relationship between two former prison cellmates. Lorraine (Falco), newly released, goes to visit Marie (Pill), who’s been out for a few years. Marie has managed to set herself up with a small flat and a waitressing job, but she’s barely holding on to her sanity. For both women, “freedom” is turning out to be more daunting than they expected.
Once Pill settles in to her role, her Marie is a bundle of nervous energy, alternately standoffish and vulnerable. Unable to sit still for even an instant, she’s always jiggling a foot or playing with her hands as her moods swing wildly from enthusiastic to morose. Lorraine, older and more mature, provides a calming counterpoint to Marie’s frenetic energy. Still adjusting to her newly regained freedom, Lorraine looks to Marie for guidance even a she carefully maneuvers around Marie’s bumpy emotional terrain.
Falco, perhaps most famous for her role as the perfectly groomed Carmela on The Sopranos, scarcely looks like the same woman in this reincarnation as an unkempt ex-prisoner, but she plays Lorraine with a pitch-perfect mix of maturity, vulnerability, and a touch of comedy. She’s handed several amusing one-liners, which she delivers with impeccable comic timing, and also gets the opportunity to show off her physical comedic skills in an especially hilarious dance scene.
Rachel Hauck’s meticulously detailed set leaves nothing to the imagination but still manages to strike just the right tone. The tiny apartment is visibly grimy and fascinatingly cluttered with the detritus of a life in shambles. You can almost see the mold growing on the dingy walls. In a wonderfully realistic touch, real water pours from the sink and cascades down the kitchen window during rainy scenes.
Written by British playwright Chloe Moss (yes, Marie and Lorraine have delightful British accents!), This Wide Night premiered at the Soho Theatre in London in 2008, where it was awarded the Susan Smith Blackburn prize.
This Wide Night (directed by Anne Kauffman) is now playing at the Peter Jay Sharp Theater. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit nakedangels.com.