THIS WIDE NIGHT by Chloë Moss, directed by Jon Michaelson (Mermaid Parade). At Theatre Passe Muraille Backspace (16 Ryerson). Previews begin Wednesday (July 20), opens Friday (July 22) and runs to July 31, Tuesday-Saturday 8 pm, matinee Sunday and July 30 at 2 pm. $15-$25, matinee pwyc. 416-504-7529. See listing.
Actor Astrid Van Wieren likes nothing better than getting into a theatrical boxing ring and trading punches with her opponent/partner – metaphorically speaking.
She has plenty of chances in This Wide Night, British playwright Chloë Moss’s play about two women who forged a friendship in prison. When the elder, Lorraine (Van Wieren), is released after a 12-year sentence, she heads straight for the apartment of Marie (Claire Burns), who’s still testing her freedom and isn’t sure she wants to continue their relationship.
“An intense show like this keeps you on your toes,” says Van Wieren, continuing the boxing image. “You have to trust the other performer, and while while you’re onstage, you hope your partner throws you a punch you don’t expect.”
The play grew out of stories Moss heard doing a theatre workshop in a British prison. It was commissioned by Clean Break Theatre, which works with women whose lives have been affected by the criminal justice system, using theatre for personal and political change.
This Wide Night won the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize in 2009, presented to a female playwright for an outstanding script. (The previous year’s winner was Judith Thompson’s Palace Of The End.)
One of the intriguing things about the plays, notes Van Wieren, is that Moss provides a blueprint for the characters’ histories but not too many details.
“It’s a great chance to create from the ground up,” smiles the performer, whose work includes Danny, King Of The Basement, Baal, The Bird and The Gut Girls. “We have to look at how these two survive after getting out of prison, and also what their relationship is about.
“That relationship is the diamond at the heart of the play. Forged in prison, will it now survive? In what fashion? And, it’s worth asking, should it continue?”
Marie, living in a small apartment and not ready to share her secrets with Lorraine, “is someone who’s been constantly abandoned, so now she pushes people away to avoid being hurt again. She’s a tough survivor, with a sense of humour and a big heart.”
Lorraine, Van Wieren’s character, “feels she’s been defined by one act of anger and violence. Naive and loving, though with a temper, she takes things at face value, which gets her into trouble.
“Simultaneously fearful and anxious to connect with a son who went into foster care, she lives moment to moment. Lorraine is used to having everything planned for her, so she’s off balance when we meet her, unprepared for life outside prison.”
Despite their differences, the two women share one challenge: what to do with their lives now that they’re not incarcerated.
“Most of us take freedom for granted. If we have a problem, there’s usually someone we can turn to for help. But these two have no one else they’ve been left floating.
“In rehearsals, we’ve discovered how well these two characters play off one another. They know how to bring out the best and worst in each other.”3
