The Retreat from Moscow by William Nicholson
Delaware Theatre Company
January 24 - February 11, 2007
General Beauty | Program Letter | Photos
Sets: Rob Jansen
Costumes: Mattie Ullrich
Lights: Shannon Zura
Sound: Fabian Obispo
Stage Manager: Sara J. Tantillo
Cast (in alphabetical order): Christopher Kelly, David McCann and Carole Monferdini
This production was partially inspired by the work of glass sculptor Dale Chihuly and the monochromatic work of Robert Motherwell.
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General Beauty
“It’s got nothing to do with what anyone needs. It’s to do with what’s true.”
- Alice
“That other woman...I don’t quite have a clear picture of her.”
- Alice
“Obvious really, but I’d never quite seen it before.”
- Alice
The Retreat from Moscow is about the beauty of seeing clearly the truth of a painful situation. Each character spends every moment trying desperately to see clearly the truth of the situation and trying to make the other characters see what they understand to be the truth of the situation. Amazingly, the three characters fight through tremendous emotional shrapnel to come to a common understanding. Their efforts are noble, and the thoroughness with which their search is detailed is awe-inspiring.
When the audience leaves the theatre, they should have gained the courage to go back and take a second look at an event in their life that they thought was too complicated to understand.
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Program Letter
One of the great things that theatre can do is to take major life events that we all have experience with - birth, first love, marriage, death - and put them up on stage for us all to consider together. For instance, two seasons ago Mitch Albom’s Tuesdays With Morrie let us take a look at dying. The Taming of the Shrew gave us a unique look at three paths to the wedding day. By sharing these stories, the hope is that we can learn something about these universal events that will help us as we go through them ourselves or provide some perspective to an event we’ve already been through.
In today’s world, we can add one more event to the list universal experiences - divorce. Unfortunately, weíve all been touched by it in some way. The Retreat from Moscow, more than any other play I know, takes an honest and unflinching look at one family’s journey to separation. But to say that The Retreat from Moscow is a play about divorce is like saying Mitch Albom’s Tuesdays With Morrie is a play about death. The opposite is actually true. Mitch Albom’s Tuesdays With Morrie is about life and The Retreat from Moscow is about love.
The play is a very personal one to its author, William Nicholson, as it is inspired by events in his own life. He writes:
“It’s not a documentary. I don’t really know what happened inside their hearts and minds. But I know what’s been going on inside my own heart and mind, so I know the characters of my play, Alice and Edward and Jamie, because they’re all of me. I’m trying to tell the truth about the pain of loving badly, because I too have loved badly.”
That personal connection influences every line and is part of what makes this play so deeply felt. When I shared this play with friends and colleagues, I’ve been amazed that each person found the play spoke to them on a very specific level. Frequently, they were each led to share with me a very personal story that was illuminated by the play. I guess this shouldn’t have surprised me. We’ve all known the pain of loving badly, and hopefully it’s led us to the triumph of loving well. I hope this story also connects with your life. Every artist involved in putting this story on stage for you today has strived to make it as personal as possible, both for themselves and for you. We’ve tried to create a safe and beautiful place in which to take this journey together, where laughter can exist side by side with tears, and sadness leads to transcendence.
Thanks for taking this journey with us today. It’s why DTC is here.
If watching Edward, Alice, and Jamie travel over this familiar ground resonates with you, feel free to email me at dstradley@delawaretheatre.org. I’d love to hear from you and learn from you.
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