InterAct Theatre Company presents Jonathan Spector’s This Much I Know

Three actors (Sorab Watia, Jessica DalCanton, and Mark Worth) have to cycle through a few dozen characters, two countries, and several historical periods—from the 1930s into the present day. Jonathan Spector’s play is ambitious, but largely pulls off a moving examination of history, belief, and personal guilt.

A complex story

The plot in the present day follows Lukesh (Watia), an Indian psychology professor in California who discovers that his Russian American wife Natalya (DelCanton) has left him to embark on a research trip in Russia, where her grandmother and namesake was born in the former Soviet Union. Natalya, a writer privately grappling with her own personal trauma, wants to uncover the truth about whether or not Joseph Stalin had her great-grandparents killed, and whether his daughter, Svetlana Stalin (also DelCanton), could have saved them.

Lukesh, back home, copes and advises his young student, Harold (Worth), on his thesis paper. Harold comes from a long line of white nationalists—he insists that they don't associate with neo-Nazis—and is slowly coming to terms with how his beliefs are changing. Each character struggles over the course of the narrative with what they have done in their respective pasts and how to move forward from the tyranny of history.

Skillful but long

Evidently influenced by Tom Stoppard and memory plays such as Follies, Spector skillfully weaves the narratives together so that individual characters and lines of dialogue comment on one another. Lukesh even muses in the second act that students might find it off-putting when his personal life becomes part of his lectures. Svetlana's monologues become a chorus for Harold, also the pampered offspring of a powerful leader, with both characters facing their fathers’ ideologies. Natalya, by looking for more about her family, longs for a definitive answer about her own guilt, and Lukesh faces new truths about his relationship with his wife.

At two hours (not including intermission), This Much I Know is long. Spector has a lot on the brain about power and personal change, yet I wondered if shaving off even 10 minutes would make it a stronger whole. The length indirectly leads to an abrupt, overly neat ending that feels better suited to a romantic comedy, not a political drama.

Earning a hopeful message

Director Seth Rozin's staging is strong, and the actors rapidly change characters with an accent, a wardrobe change, and a well-placed hat. But the show’s portrayal of Stalin and of Harold’s white nationalist father doesn’t quite work. Dialogue with these intimidating, authoritarian figures comes from booming voices offstage. But superimposed images of both men, on the minimal set by Philadelphia Scenic Works, look clumsy and fake. The audio element alone would do a better job of evoking the power disparity at play.

Regardless of its faults, InterAct’s production pulls off something extremely difficult in staging political art that is neither polemical nor overtly preachy. Spector roots his commentary on history and culpability in the torments and personal journeys of each character, and this builds to a climax that is extremely moving, despite a tidy blackout before the curtain call. The play deals with heavy subjects, including assassinations, white supremacy, and terrorism. Spector's writing still earns its message of hope: even if humans can't change the past, they can accept what came before, and build a better future in the process.

Thanks for reading BSR! Our journalism is funded by our readers, and we need your help to power our reporting, reviews, and community impact. Join the 2026 Readers Decide Revenue Drive, and bring a transformative change to our small nonprofit team. Find out more and make a gift of any size here.