“This Wide Night” reviewed by Julia W. Rath

Somewhat Recommended **  Despite an interesting set of premises and impressive acting by Aila Ayilam Peck (Marie) and Linda Reiter (Lorraine), “This Wide Night” by Chloë Moss is ponderous to watch. This show is about two women, once cellmates, who have been released from prison and find their way into a living situation on the outside where talk is cheap but rent and utilities still must be paid for. Inspired by actual accounts of women in a UK prison, this drama is representative of tragic circumstances when ex-offenders find themselves in freedom but with nobody to turn to for social and emotional support. How do they stave off isolation and loneliness? How do they adjust to a new life outside of confinement?

Lorraine intrudes upon Marie’s privacy by needing a place to stay, and the reluctant Marie puts her up for one night in her studio apartment (known as a bedsitter, in British parlance). But that night expands into several when the two women become a part of each other’s life. Their codependency grows into something of a mother-daughter relationship at a time when neither has family or friends to count on. Even though Marie insists that Lorraine is the only one who can make her laugh, she also states early on that Lorraine says a whole lot of nothing. Unfortunately, we in the audience tend to tune in to the senseless dialogue, the swearing, and the throw-away lines as compared to the characters’ emptiness and emotional pain. As the two pretend to crave independence and initially resist each other’s companionship, they secretly long for someone to listen to them, take them seriously, and share their problems and concerns.

The women’s combined tragedy brought me back to my work during the late 1990s with the Medical and Health Research Association of New York City (MHRA) and the National Development and Research Institutes (NDRI). One of my specialty areas then had to do with studying social support among women ex-offenders who were in drug and alcohol treatment programs. The research I did indicated the importance of social support among the women in getting clean and staying clean in the process of building or rebuilding their lives after prison.* “This Wide Night” is indeed a story about the need and desire for social support among those women who may not have family or friends (or the right type of family and friends) to help them get through this terribly difficult time in their lives. Watching the performance got me thinking about what could happen to ex-convicts in the event that no substance abuse treatment plan exists after exiting the criminal justice system. For example, Marie has her issues with beer, wine, and vodka, while Lorraine is more interested in weed. So how do these women learn to support themselves while overcoming their addictions? Where can women such as these receive the necessary emotional sustenance to keep them on the straight and narrow so they can learn the vocational, educational, and interpersonal skills to survive in the “real world?” How do they learn to avoid risky behaviors and criminal activity that may have landed them in jail in the first place? Where can they get the necessary psychological counseling to help them get beyond the scars of a dysfunctional past?

Director Georgette Verdin does a fine job of painting a portrait of the lives of these broken and vulnerable women. Scenic design by Sotirios I. Livaditis is good, but the colors on the walls seem a tad too unrealistic, even if the flat is supposed to look drab and dingy. We see that the building has been retrofitted with electric conduits throughout; we even get to see the bathroom—and someone using it. But there should have been a radiator or some type of space heater featured in the room to give the flat an extra layer of authenticity. Christopher Kriz, as usual, does an excellent job with his original music and sound design, but it was a bit comical watching the mismatched sound effects involved with turning on and off the kitchen faucet and turning on the boombox. Sometimes I didn’t know whether it was raining outside or whether the electric kettle was boiling or whether both were happening at the same time. High marks go to dialect coach Elise Kauzlaric, as the actors had to learn proficient cockney accents (which, incidentally, my guest found difficult to follow).

The odds have already been stacked against Marie and Lorraine. Simply releasing them from prison or a halfway house with no place to go and no constructive way to earn money can be the sine qua non for recidivism. However, they eventually look to each other for social support, an important first step in their successful reintegration into society. But seeing a show about their interaction and their agony is nonetheless a very long and dreary 95 minutes.

“This Wide Night” by Shattered Globe Theatre (in association with Interrobang Theatre Project) is playing through November 13, 2021, at Theater Wit, 1229 W. Belmont Avenue, in Chicago’s Lakeview neighborhood.

Performance schedule:

Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays at 8:00 p.m.
Sundays at 3:00 p.m.

Please note: There will not be a performance on Thursday, October 28.
There will be an added performance on Saturday, November 13 at 2:00 p.m.

Additionally, one performance will be available for live streaming during the run.

Tickets are:
$45 general admission. $15 students. $35 seniors. $25 under 30 years old.
$15 industry tickets on Thursdays and Fridays with code “INDUSTRY.”

Touch Tour/Audio Description Performance: Friday, November 5.
6:45 p.m. touch tour; 8:00 p.m. performance with audio description.
$20 tickets available with code “ACCESS.”

Tickets are available online at https://sgtheatre.org/ or by calling (773) 975-8150 or in person at the Theater Wit Box Office.

Group discounts are available by contacting groupsales@shatteredglobe.org or by calling (773) 770-0333.

Shattered Globe understands that ticket prices can pose a financial burden and, at times, an obstacle for theatregoers. A number of waived tickets are available on a first-come, first-serve basis for students and community members experiencing access barriers to theatre. If you would like to be added to SGT’s Waived Ticket Waitlist, please reach out to info@shatteredglobe.org.

Please note: Theater Wit currently requires all audience members to wear masks and to provide proof of vaccination or a negative PCR test within 48 hours of curtain time. All cast and crew members are fully vaccinated. For additional information on COVID safety guidelines and Theater’s Wit’s ticket refund policy, visit http://www.theaterwit.org.

Shattered Globe has a contingency plan to go fully virtual if the City’s COVID safety guidelines are changed during the run of the production.

*Rath JW, Falkin GP, Welle D: “Social support among women ex-offenders currently or recently in a New York City outpatient drug treatment program.” Presented at the annual meeting of the American Sociological Association, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, August 1997.

To see what others are saying, visit  www.theatreinchicago.com , go to Review Round-Up and click at “This Wide Night”.