Who doesnโt want do overs?
They are at the center of โConstellations,โ a two-person drama about boy meets girl again and again and again. Something Something Theatre Company is staging the Nick Payne play.
The principles of string theory, relativity and quantum mechanics inform the play. But you donโt really need to know about those to get it.
It begins as Roland (Damian Garcia), meets Marianne (Bailey Renee) at a party. Heโs a beekeeper; she is a physicist specializing in โtheoretical early universe cosmology.โ
They donโt click. But the situation changes over the next vignette, and then the next, until finally they are in a relationship. But that changes from vignette to vignette, too, each repeating a scene with varying emotions, a little more information added. There are infinite possibilities in the world of parallel universes that Payne has created.
Hereโs the thing: the play is fascinating. It may take a few scenes to figure out whatโs happening, but itโs worth it to stick with it.
Joan OโDwyer directed with an eye toward pacing and clarity.
And Garcia and Renee embraced the material. This can not be an easy play to do โ emotions change quickly, even if the scenes are similar. But that quick emotion change called for a nuance the two likable actors did not have.
But even without the nuance, the production is compelling and Payneโs work is exciting. Kudos to Something Something for taking on the challenging piece.
