NY1 Theater Review: "This Wide Night"
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Stage and screen stars Edie Falco and Alison Pill return to the off-Broadway theater scene in the Naked Angels Theater Company's production of "This Wide Night." NY1's Roma Torre filed the following review. The Naked Angels Theater Company, celebrating its 25th year of producing audaciously original work, is on a roll this year. "Next Fall," a beautiful new play by artistic director Geoffrey Nauffts, made the leap to Broadway and now its latest, "This Wide Night," is equally captivating.
A very different, more intimate drama, it nevertheless succeeds in making the same kind of emotional connections; and given what amounts to an altogether ideal production starring a nearly unrecognizable Edie Falco, it is true to form, nakedly theatrical.
Falco is Lorraine, a 50-year-old ex-con who, fresh out of prison, has virtually nothing in the world, except her former cellmate, Marie. Though free, the two friends remain trapped in a prison of their own making. They are depicted as lost, hungry souls alternately clinging to and repelling one another.
British playwright Chloe Moss has penned what is essentially a character study in which there’s little action of any consequence, but don’t let that fool you. She has expertly crafted a raw and honest portrait that manages to burrow under your skin. Aided by Anne Kauffman’s wonderfully sensitive direction, we are steeped in the women's claustrophobic existence.
As the two misfits, Falco and Alison Pill are sensational together, capturing all the dimensions of Lorraine and Marie’s co-dependency. Like a pair of addicts, they need one another to survive, injecting themselves with false hope and humor to numb the constant pain.
Pill, who continually tops herself with each successive role, exposes the scared child beneath Marie's tough exterior.
Caved-in as if enduring perpetual punches to the gut, Falco is revelatory. Awkward and homely, she immerses herself in the role body and soul.
"This Wide Night" may seem like a modest two-hander that runs a brief 90 minutes, but it’s bound to resonate far deeper and longer than you could imagine.