Constellations
The Living Room Theatre in North Bennington, Vermont
Written by Nick Payne, directed by Kirk Jackson
“Suppose that life exists in a multiverse—a set of parallel existences that contain infinitely different futures.”
In a normally “two-hander” play, the story of a relationship between a beekeeper named Roland and a theoretical physicist named Marianne plays out three different ways as though the same two people lived simultaneously in three different theoretical worlds and had—or didn’t have—an affair. That is the premise of British playwright Nick Payne’s creation, “Constellations,” now being performed by The Living Room Theatre in North Bennington, Vermont. Director Kirk Jackson has taken this premise and expanded it to three separate couples of actors playing Marianne and Roland, each couple in its own universe, although in the same places, and lets the story or stories play out as they must. It’s a fascinating achievement. In every case the two meet at a barbecue and things move on from there to their own particular eternities. Parallel stories are fascinating, and here, with similar lines in each locale, the outcomes of conversations take very different paths, often leading to the same place, but sometimes surprising us with their differences.
One couple is played by Randolyn Zinn and Allen McCullough; one by Nia Ragini and Oliver Wadsworth; the third by Valeri Madek and Michael Broadhurst. Each couple bring their own tones into the play, although the three couples often match their rhythms identically. Still, with your eyes closed they are all the same, each one a clone of the others, but still different where it counts, each playing their own special version of this story. It is fascinating and very theatrical to see this story played out in this fashion. I have seen three productions and this one is the most original concept. As different as they all are from one another, the fact that they are all playing the same characters in the same sort of situations is a bit revolutionary, and Jackson has pulled this off with a fine flair for the drama of the difficult relationship being di- and tri-sected here. Author Nick Payne wants us to see how a relationship fares in a different way when placed in a different illusory world. Jackson wants us to see how these two people can be perceived in those places as very different people caught in the psychological web of their own making.
Frankly, I loved it. All six actors are wonderful. They often play the same scenes in the same order, but sometimes—when logic demands—those scenes are moved about and transposed to not just a different world, but a different spot in that world. Eventually, however, every moment works in all three places. If life gave us such opportunities this is how life would be.
Set in the swimming pool at the Park-McCullough Mansion the play delivers a punch in the gut. Randolyn Zinn has choreographed the three couples in a waltz that transforms everyone as it slowly develops through the 76 minutes of the performance. If an hour and fifteen minutes of thinking is attractive to you, this is the play to see. It is guaranteed to get you in touch with the atoms and the molecules of your own existence, and it pushes you to question every decision you make.
Constellations plays at the Park-McCullough Mansion, 1 Park Street, North Bennington, Vermont, through August 6. For information and tickets visit The Living Room Theatre’s website.
