The play is about the end of a three-decade marriage and the subsequent emotional fallout. The title is taken from Napoleon's costly invasion of Moscow and the subsequent retreat. It was first performed at the Chichester Festival Theatre in October, 1999.[1] It was eventually produced in New York on Broadway at the Booth Theatre, on October 23, 2003 with John Lithgow, Eileen Atkins and Ben Chaplin, under the direction of Daniel Sullivan.
