Shipwreck marks a departure from Voyage in many ways, particularly in the use of setting. While the action in Voyage is centered in Russia, only the opening and closing scenes of Shipwreck take place in the characters' native country. For the majority of the play, the characters reside in Europe, and that displacement is central to the action of the play. If Voyage is so named for the characters' embarking on a pursuit of their ideals, then Shipwreck earns its moniker from the initial failure of those pursuits. The location (and, some might argue, the cause) of their "shipwreck" is Europe, specifically Paris.

On a political level, Paris represents a false hope and poor investment for the characters. Early in Act I, they all brim with hope about the impending Revolution in 1848. Their hope is that this revolution will spread through Germany and Poland, finally making its way to Russia. When the Second Republic (as it is called following the revolution) turns out to be more of a name change than a governmental one, the Herzens and their friends are left adrift in the violent and deadly aftermath. While Bakunin heads east in search of further revolution, the Herzens remain in France.

At this point, France also becomes the undoing of the characters' personal lives as well. In the country retreat, Natalie begins an affair with George Herwegh that ruins both of their marriages. While the poet and writer Turgenev uses the coupling as fodder for comic writing, the adultery causes all four real pain. Ogarev's wife leaves him for a painter and refuses to divorce him in another example of marital discord. Most tragically, the European retreat brings about loss of life. Belinsky dies leaving behind his wife and daughter (his son has already died). The play ends with an actual shipwreck, in which the Herzens' deaf son Kolya, his tutor, and Herzen's mother all perish. When Stoppard flashes back to the first scene, when all the characters depart for Europe, it is suffused with a dark sense of destiny and impending doom: Europe will be the place of their undoing.

While the design needs for Shipwreck are not wildly different from Voyage, the look of both plays must be similar enough to make it clear that the plays are connected, but distinct enough to give each its own identity. One difference that Stoppard writes into the text is a staging wherein characters in the play are positioned to mirror a famous work of art. This moment increases the theatricality exponentially. Indeed, this play is dreamier and more whimsical than Voyage, which could be accentuated in the design. For the art tableau, should the real painting be projected on a cyclorama to clarify the comparison?  More importantly, could other tableaux be used (whether mirroring paintings or not) to create a kind of visual through line?  The director and design team must use visuals, no matter how brief the scene might be, to enhance the audience's understanding and experience of the play.

It seems that abstract or stylized set pieces might serve the play. Shipwreck is full of artifice employed by characters to hide their feelings or augment their sense of self-importance. In this light, a more outré theatricalization would dovetail with the characters' affectations and pretensions.

The actors in Shipwreck have different challenges than they did in Voyage . In the first play, characters had to be sketched quickly and clearly since many had very little stage time. The audience spends far more time with Herzen, Natalie and George than with the characters in Voyage. While this gives...