Constellations: A Play

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Short and sweet and strangely haunting…The devilishly clever scribe is not playing games with either his characters or his audience, because with each iteration Roland and Marianne grow closer to one another—and become more important to us. And by the end of the play (has it really been only an hour?), we’re fully invested in their lives. All of them.” —Variety. It’s astonishing how much quality drama Payne manages to capture in just 75 minutes. This makes Constellations a demanding play to watch but, much like those helium balloons, it carries the profundity of its weighty topics lightly. He gets particularly fired up about the climate science underpinning If There Is I Haven't Found It Yet, which won the George Devine award for most promising playwright in 2009, and marked him out, in the words of the Guardian's Lyn Gardner, as an "original talent". Constellations is about the meeting of, and blossoming relationship between, beekeeper Roland and cosmologist Marianne. The latter muses on scientific ideas such as string theory, quantum mechanics and multiple universes, which is interpreted by Payne in the play’s structure as there being infinite possibilities for how your life might go. That means some scenes are played out again, but end in a different way; there isn’t one set direction of travel, and the audience has to figure out the various threads.

No matter which version of Marianne’s story she is playing, Morris is open and impassioned, with Gleeson’s droll, sometimes bewildered Roland a perfectly understated foil to her energy. Beneath a canopy of chandeliers the couple’s image is reflected in designer Molly O’Cathain’s mirrored surfaces and ceiling, with snapping shifts in time and place gorgeously created by Paul Keogan’s clusters of light and Liz Roche’s movement direction. Suppose that life exists in a multiverse -- a set of parallel existences that contain infinitely different futures. The possibilities in our lives are, quite literally, endless. Every possible event that could happen, does happen, in one universe or another. And if two lovers meet -- are drawn together in every version of existence -- every possible happy ending and heartbreak that could befall them, will.

Dependence on the sky became an essential part of many early cultures (and to agricultural cultures today). In November 2022 a production was staged at The Garage, Bangkok by the Bangkok Community Theatre, featuring Nicholas Burnham and Fiona Haque, directed by Danny Wall. The production took place at ‘The Garage’ in Bangkok, Thailand. In the same month, the play was also presented at The Pegg Studio in Bristol by Bristol Drama Society, featuring Elsa Cleaver, Andrew Graham, Honey Gawn-Hopkins & Lilly Walker. The production was directed by Holly Bancroft and Kate Hunter. This article was amended on 19 May 2022 because an earlier version misspelled Marc Atkinson Borrull’s first name as “Mark”.

In December 2021, the play was staged by the Owl & Nightingale Players in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, featuring Casey Creagh as Marianne and Eric Lippe as Roland. Creagh won the Capstone Award awarded by the local Gettysburg College.Which constellations are seasonal depends on your latitude and will change from place to place around the world. From the Earth's extremities the visible sky is fixed. At the Poles all constellations are circumpolar; at the Equator all are seasonal. How can you find constellations? One evening, Roland and Marianne attend a barbeque. He's a beekeeper, while she's a cosmologist, gazing at the stars in the hopes of planning her future through multiple universes. Together, Roland and Marianne hit it off, but as the topic of infidelity bubbles to the surface, the pair break up. They've got every possible future stretching out in front of them, with each possibility changing up their relationship. Throughout the play, they meet each other in unexpected situations, with Roland at Marianne's side in her final days. Purcell, Carey. "Jake Gyllenhaal and Ruth Wilson Explore 'Constellations' on Broadway" playbill.com, 16 December 2014 I do sometimes think: presumably there will come a point where I just don't get stuff on any more. What would I do? Would I be employable at something else?" He might have to look to the multiverse to find out.

Prices are correct at the time of publication and subject to change without notice. Exact prices will be displayed with seat selection. Constellations stars Sheila Atim and Ivanno Jeremiah (18 June – 1 August), Peter Capaldi and Zo ë Wanamaker (23 June – 24 July), Omari Douglas and Russell Tovey (30 July – 11 September), and Anna Maxwell Martin and Chris O’Dowd (6 August – 12 September). Does ‘Constellations’ itself stand up on a basic,cross-dimensional level? I think it’s still good, but its dabblings with the quantum realm and string theory feel less outre now than they did ten years ago. Maybe that’s because Marvel has brought a lot of similar ideas into huge mainstream films and TV shows, or maybe it’s simply the fact that ‘Constellations’ is now a pretty famous play. Underneath the bells and whistles it’s undeniably a bit Richard Curtis-y. And maybe it could do with a brand new production next time out: this one is great, but there’s the danger it becomes like that Stephen Daldry version of ‘An Inspector Calls’, so definitive it never gets replaced. Constellations tells of a beekeeper and cosmologist, who through their romantic relationship believe that multiple forces are at work. After a world premiere at the Royal Court starring Rafe Spall and Sally Hawkins, the play transferred to the Duke of York's in 2012. In the quantum multiverse, every choice, every decision you've ever and never made exists in an unimaginably vast ensemble of parallel universes.

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Peter Capaldi and Zoë Wanamaker, ‘the more self-aware couple’ in Constellations. Photograph: Marc Brenner Clearly most people will only see one pairing. But if money’s no object, I’d say it’s worth taking a look at multiple versions. It’s short. And you’re not just getting the same performances with different faces.