Vaudeville, London
7th July,
2021, matinee
‘There’s no straightforward
explanation I’m afraid’
This
is the first time I’ve seen Constellations
but, in the spirit of the play, I wondered how differently I might have watched
this latest iteration of Nick Payne’s modern classic if I’d seen the original
production in 2012. It’s feasible that I could’ve seen it. 2012 was around the
time I started to go to London on my own and see a greater variety of theatre.
And I did see Laura Wade’s Posh as
part of the same West End season of Royal Court transfers so it is entirely
possible I could have ventured to this. Back then, I was a single, unemployed
student still living at home. Now, in 2021, I’m a married, employed homeowner
still at university. Where will I be, I wonder, when the next iteration of this
play comes about?
Constellations is a love story between Marianne,
a scientist, and Roland, a beekeeper, which plays with the possibility that we’re part of a multiverse. It’s a world
(or several) where all of our decisions and their outcomes ‘can co-exist
simultaneously’. As Marianne puts it, ‘in the quantum multiverse, every choice,
every decision you’ve ever and never made exists in an unimaginably vast
ensemble of parallel universes’. In a running time of 70 minutes, Michael
Longhurst’s economic production played on Tom Scutt’s striking and now iconic
design, we see glimpses of their relationship playing out in the multiverse. The
idea is elevated by this revival having four different casts to reiterate the
amount of possibilities to be pondered over. Dramatically, this concept is
entertaining and scientifically, it is mind-boggling. I don’t normally enjoy
doing such a biopsy on a play (who am I kidding, I love it!) but Constellations has left me craving
further meaning.
The play’s structure is fascinating. It initially
reminded me of Caryl Churchill’s Blue
Heart (1997). Scenes jump back to the beginning and are replayed, sometimes
with minor word fluctuations, sometimes with momentous changes. They head in
different directions, relationship dynamics shift, motivations and moods
change. It can jump
from rain to sunshine, from violence to tenderness. But it also largely follows
a chronological narrative arc:
·
First
encounter
·
Getting
together
·
Splitting
up
·
Dance
lessons, reuniting
·
Proposal
·
Diagnosis
·
Waiting
for the taxi
·
Dance
lessons, reuniting
These
rough sections are interspersed with snippets which jump forward to late in
their relationship when Marianne’s illness is quite advanced. I was expecting
one scene to swap the characters’ roles – for Roland to become the scientist
and Marianne the beekeeper. This may have added a dynamic of another possible
universe, but I now think it would have been a frivolous, redundant change. Instead,
although Payne presents different outcomes in different universes, there is
structure, purpose and sentiment behind it, and we care all the more for
Marianne and Roland because of it. Maybe such an exercise in breaking down the
scenes is futile but it’s natural to seek meaning. Meaning is something Roland
mostly craves. He wants to know what exactly Marianne does for a living, why
doesn’t she want him to stay the night, when does he have to move out, what her
diagnosis is. And he admires the simple existence of bees: ‘If only we could understand why it is that we’re here
and what it is that we’re meant to spend our lives doing’. Marianne is perhaps
more accepting of the unknown. However, in one universe it is Roland who is
more accepting of uncertainty. What is it, I wonder, which led to that outcome?
As Marianne says, there’s no straightforward explanation I’m afraid.
Reading
the text, it’s all played out as one scene with each universe separated by a
line. This flow is achieved by Longhurst’s short, sharp changes evoked by pops
of sound and sudden lighting changes. In
this version produced by the Donmar Warehouse, Zoë Wanamaker played Marianne
and Peter Capaldi played Roland. Casting an older couple opens up new
interpretations to the text. For instance, when the couple reunites at dance
classes, Roland tells us Heather is getting married. We later find out this is
his sister but I initially assumed it was his daughter from a previous
marriage: another life. And when Marianne reveals her diagnosis, we hear that
it may have been in her favour if she was under 40. Age alters how we
perceive her illness. But
overall, their age prompts us to reflect on their lived experience and the
multitude of other lives and outcomes they may have, the time they’ve spent
together and indeed the time they’ve spent apart. Could it be that they’ve
known each other 40 or more years by the time they’re contemplating life
without Marianne, making that penultimate scene all the more poignant:
‘We have all
the time we’ve always had.
You’ll
still have all our time.
Once I
Once
Once
There’s
not going to be any more or less of it.
Once
I’m gone.’
There
are certainly parallels with Payne’s Elegy
(2016) which also starred Wanamaker at the Donmar. Here the language is more
prosaic, characters wear their heart on their sleeve more, but both plays seem
to be interested in how we articulate ourselves. It’s a beautiful play, cathartic,
full of multiple interpretations, humour and warmth. On another note, we both
felt safe and confident in the safety measures Nimax Theatres had put in place.
Constellations plays at the Vaudeville
Theatre until 12th September, 2021. Wanamaker and Capaldi have
finished their run, however the other three companies continue to play in rep: Sheila
Atim and Ivanno Jeremiah play until 1st August; Omari Douglas and
Russell Tovey play from 30th July-11th September; and
Anna Maxwell Martin and Chris O’Dowd play from 6th August-12th
September.
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