REVIEW:
'The Retreat from Moscow'
Performance Network Theatre, 120 E. Huron, Ann Arbor. Thu.-Sun., through Oct. 29. Tickets: $25-$37. For information: 734-663-0696 or http://www.performancenetwork.org.
Soldiers retreat from battles and couples retreat from bad relationships – both have been part of our history since humankind first formed relationships and got angry with one another. But after watching the opening night performance of "The Retreat from Moscow" at Ann Arbor's Performance Network Theatre, I'm not sure who had the roughest retreat: Napoleon from Russia or Edward and Alice from their 33-year marriage.
Or maybe it was the audience, since we couldn't escape the obvious metaphors playwright William Nicholson hammers at us throughout his otherwise engaging story.
Nicholson's primary metaphor becomes apparent only moments in to the play. The long-married couple is having a quiet evening at home. Edward is reading about Napoleon's famous cold and snowy battle, but when Alice tries to start a conversation, she gets only a cold and blurry response. The more she implores him, begs him and goads him, the more unresponsive he becomes. So it becomes obvious that not only did thousands of soldiers have to die in order to get this story moving, so, too, did their marriage. The only one among us unaware of that, however, is Alice.
A British poet and practicing Catholic, Alice has always believed their marriage was a strong and healthy one. But lately she's been concerned that something is wrong with her husband. So when she confronts and interrogates him about it, he can't – or won't – tell her. Instead, he simply shuts down or walks away. Even when she says or does something outrageous to elicit a reaction, he offers little response.
And no wonder: Edward is no longer emotionally involved in his marriage. Instead, he has fallen in love with a woman who accepts him for what he is – and not for what she expects him to be.
So who's left to pick up the pieces when Edward finally leaves home? Jamie, their 32-year-old unmarried son – and both are experts at using him as their intermediary.
Although "The Retreat from Moscow" starts off like your typical divorce story, Nicholson's script sizzles whenever he strips away at the illusions he creates in the show's first several minutes. Alice, we discover, is not quite the insane villainess she appears to be, nor is Edward the poor, innocent victim of her abuse. Instead, their marriage is a train wreck that's been waiting to happen since the two met by accident 34 years earlier. And the psychological damage they've inflicted upon their son is astounding.
In lesser hands, Nicholson's script could easily become an emotionally overwrought melodrama. Director Malcolm Tulip, however, never permits his actors to cross that line.
Instead, Tulip builds tension where, when and at the precise level it should be, and the humor always comes forth naturally.
Equally impressive are Tulip's almost-seamless scene changes. There are few hard scene breaks in this production. So rather than stopping the action in its entirety – and thus messing with the emotional pacing, as well – most scenes flow gently and naturally in to the next, thanks to Monika Essen's skeletal set, Robert Murphy's lighting and some well-placed actors who help bridge the transitions.
If there's a quibble with Tulip's direction, it is this: Although the dialogue leads one to assume the story takes place in England, the family's British accents are incongruous – and for two of the actors, sometimes missing altogether.
Despite that, fine performances are given by Richard McWilliams (Edward) and David Wolber (Jamie). As both characters are cut from the same cloth, each underplays his role with pinpoint precision; it's obvious that their anguish and emotional scars are bubbling just below the surface.
Alice is quite the opposite, however, and that's exactly how she's played by the always excellent Gillian Eaton. There's never a doubt how Alice is feeling, and Eaton is a master at creating a character filled with such extremes. She's scary, she's funny, she's infuriating and she's charming – yet each emotion is clearly drawn and always believable. And wait till you see how fast she can switch them!
