CONSTELLATIONS, ROYAL COURT REVIEW

What a brilliant little play. I say “little” only because it’s a mere 70 minutes long with no interval, but in every other way, like the diminutive Marianne, it packs a massively big punch.

What a challenging and imaginative 70 minutes it is – the stage couldn’t be more simple – a platform and a whole load of balloons/atoms/molecules and some flashing lights. That’s it. There is no plot as such. The only fixed points are the two actors – Sally Hawkins as Marianne and Rafe Spall as Roland both seriously impressive in not only their individual roles, but in the way they work together. I was spellbound from start to finish – admittedly a little confused here and there, but mesmerised nevertheless.

It is funny, moving, intelligent and a little frustrating at times (probably because it was a little too clever for me here and there). Nick Payne, the playwright has intertwined the theories of quantum mechanics and the multiverse into a metaphor for a basic love story. It is difficult to extract the two because of way he explores the network of time and the string theory, telling the story out of sequence over and over again. Marianne is a Quantum Cosmologist and frighteningly bright, Roland is a professional beekeeper and reassuringly grounded. We are asked to question the concept of free will and the fact that “every choice, every decision you’ve ever and never made exists in an unimaginably vast ensemble of parallel universes”.

They meet at a BBQ. We, the audience are immediately thrown in at the deep end. We are shown some clever and funny different scenarios that determine different life options. We are shown how even just a different tone of voice, a different stance, a different response can generate an entirely different “choice”. This sets the scene for the structure of the entire play. Strands of infinite possibility link it all together, each colliding into the dramatic and emotional ending – beyond that I do not want to give anything more away.

Go and see it. Enjoy the moment and then you’ve still got time to go out for dinner in the West End afterwards.

Perfect.

Photos by Johan Persson