“I wish I had your gift, to be able to see.”

The Return is the first staging in English translation of the award-winning play Il Ritorno by Sergio Pierattini, winner of the 2008 Italian Critics Award.

Bergamo, Northern Italy. A daughter returns home after seven years in prison for the manslaughter of her fiancée, a Moroccan migrant employed by her father. Her mother pines for her lost “respectability,” her father talks to the dead, and her brother tris in vain to keep the family business going. 

Pierattini’s script juxtaposes the seriousness of the material, and its commentary on intercultural relations, with darkly humorous dialogue, a surrealist sensibility and a creeping sense of claustrophobia to capture the disintegration of traditional Italian society.

LegalAliens’ production features a cast made entirely of Italian actors to bring a real sense of place and cultural specificity to the stage. The dream-like quality of certain scenes is beautifully recreated on stage through a blending on light design and projections.