Review: Constellations on Broadway, a MTC Production

I did something very impulsive the other day. I went to a matinee on a Wednesday afternoon, chucking all my responsibilities (work/kids/etc.) and dashed into the city to see Constellations, a Manhattan Theatre Club production, written by Nick Payne. With a 70-minute running time, I could make it home in time for the afternoon busy-ess of having two tween aged children. As a thespian, I was excited and the idea of doing something so frivolous during the week gave me chills. As an avid, addicted watcher of The Affair on Showtime at this very moment, the idea of seeing Ruth Wilson on stage, paired with Jake Gyllenhaal, had me curiously running to The Samuel Friedman Theater on a weekday afternoon.

And it was worth it. This play that hails direct from London’s West End is magical, literally and figuratively. It’s kind of a sliding doors themed play filled with physics and philosophy about two people who meet and fall in love. But what if they met at a different time in their lives? What if one said something else and they both along their way? What if they resisted the impulse to continue the relationship? What if the relationship ends now instead of later? How do we deal with betrayal and is there a difference the way the news of being betrayed is taken by a male versus a female? The play explores these possibilities and makes the audiencer member feel that anything is possible in a relationship.

Marianne, played by Wilson, is a beautiful academic who works at Cambridge University. Gyllenhaal plays Roland, a gorgeous, kind beekeeper. Where did they meet? We find out that they have different opinions about that, along with several aspects of their relationship. The play breaks down into very short scenes, often with the actors taking on new positions or the lights flickering to warn us of the transition to a different theory or time. It’s jarring at first but once you get a hold of the various scenarios and dialogue, it makes sense traveling back in time with this couple who love each other but must overcome many hurdles, including a life-altering illness.

Do you wonder what would happen if you made a different choice or said something differently to someone? It’s about temporal aspect to the laws of quantum physics, a subject that Marianne studies in the play and explains to Roland incessantly so he understands. Payne’s exquisite writing, along with Michael Longhurst’s direction and the cast’s acting, make it all come together. So does the set, designed by Tom Scutt with lights by Lee Curran, filled with balloons, falling on cue as the relationship changes and evolves. Physics and love – it all comes together in the end.

This is a show that makes you think about the importance of so many things – relationships, life, the preciousness of time, love. Wilson and Gyllenhaal’s chemistry on stage adds to the effectiveness of the storytelling, but it’s the writing that holds it together and makes the 70 minutes time watching the show time well spent. Especially playing hooky on a Wednesday afternoon.

Disclosure: I was not provided with tickets to Constellations and this is not a sponsored post.

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