Stage Review - Constellations (Theatre33)
Stage Review - Constellations
Presented By: Theatre33 - Bellevue, WA
Show Run: January 24 - February 02, 2025
Date Reviewed: Saturday, February 01, 2025
Run Time: 75 Minutes (no intermission)
Reviewed By: Greg Heilman
It seems that everywhere we turn these days, at least in movies and TV, there’s some reference to a multiverse and the idea that there are multiple planes of reality on which different versions of ourselves exist in parallel and simultaneously with us, different realities if you will. Whether it’s in the award winning film Everything, Everywhere, All at Once, or any number of Marvel superhero movies, the idea of these other realities seems to have been thrust on us, along with the idea that every choice that we make, or don’t make, creates a new branch, a new reality. In other words, if we see two doors in front of us, and we choose the door on the left, the reality that we live in exists at the same time as a reality that was created by another version of us that chose that other door. Hopefully, I haven’t lost half of my readers at this point, but you’ll have to trust me that I’m actually making a point. And that point is, that while we’ve seen plenty of movies and television shows in which this idea has been explored, until I saw the Theatre33 production of Nick Payne’s Constellations, I had never seen this concept portrayed on stage, nor had I ever even heard how presenting something like this on stage would work. But with Constellations, which closed this past weekend in Bellevue, under the direction of Marianna Chebotaryova, Theatre33 presented an exquisitely crafted and beautifully performed piece of theatre that doesn’t just explore the impact of the choices we make, or don’t make, but how, out of the infinite number of possible outcomes in any particular relationship, the one we end with up just may be the one we need.
The relationship that Constellations presents is between Marianne and Roland, two singles who happen to meet at a mutual friend’s barbecue. The play begins with Marinanne waxing on about why people can’t lick their own elbow, which Roland takes as her flirting with him, to which he responds with a terse “I’m married”, brushing her off. The conversation then repeats itself, each time with a different outcome, until eventually the two come to an understanding amid the budding of a new relationship. Constellations follows this relationship, its hopeful beginning to its heartbreaking end, and every up and down in between. Each scene is a conversation that has the couple seeking footing within this love affair, each asking a question of the other, the interrogation continuing with different responses until they settle on the final exchange for the particular reality or timeline that the audience is watching, that on which this version of their relationship exists. The pair are an unlikely couple, Roland is a beekeeper and Marianne a theoretical physicist, but it’s the explanation of her career that explains to the audience what they are seeing, and the point of the play, asking the audience to connect the dots in the constellations that are this couple’s roller coaster of a romance. The construction of the story is unique, and while Payne does a nice job presenting this idea of a ghost of a chance existing out of the sheer number of potential possibilities, he also captures a couple’s relationship in a real and human way, creating a theme of love, forgiveness, and acceptance, and that the science of it all is the vehicle he uses to deliver it.
From a production perspective, as good as the play is, the love story, and the scientific angle used to present it, what Marianna Chebotaryova has accomplished with this piece, not just as the Director, but also as set, sound, and lighting designer, and overall technical director, is quite an achievement. She’s provided a scenic design that feels like an extension of the tone of the storytelling, using a futuristic color palette with neon lights for illumination that reflect the tone of each conversation. The background score for each scene in which they’re building their relationship is upbeat and jazzy, lit by a soft color, while some of the more difficult and emotional scenes are lit with stark white neon and scored with poignant, staccato piano keynotes. The emotion of the play is tied very well to the lighting and sound, but while all of those pieces are excellent here, Marianna’s achievement is in the set piece that is used primarily by both actors in the play, Era Pogosova and Christophe Peyras.
A large, round balance board sits in the center of the stage, with a number of tea lights scattered about on it, tea lights with a blue hue to them. With each conversation, when they start, there is a dominant player in it, usually the one asking the question, when it’s Era as Marianne, she’s standing higher on the board, more toward the center with Christophe’s Roland lower and closer to the edge. Each iteration of the same question has them changing position on the board, or rotating, until the final answer, the “right” one, at which time both actors are standing at the center of the board, in balance and even height, having found the footing they’d been looking for. Further, as each conversation takes place, when an answer isn’t the right one, meaning not the one that contributes to the current timeline, or otherwise isn’t what the interrogator wants to hear, he or she removes one of the tea lights from the board, sometimes purposefully, but more times than not forcefully. There is so much symbolism built into the construction of this play, and especially through the use of this set piece and with these actors, it’s quite frankly a stroke of genius.
Bringing this all together on stage, of course, presenting this relationship, is the acting pair of Era and Christophe. There is a lot of context switching in this play, not just within one particular line of questioning, as when one asks the other a question, gets a response, and then starts all over again immediately, but then switching right to the next “scene”, to the next question, but in mood and in time. Where they really excel is in their agility, to go from some very difficult scenes, some of the later in life scenes that involve not so easy decisions and some excellent acting from Era as she portrays her brilliant character’s decreasing cognition, to more fun ones, like the pair’s reunion after some time apart earlier in their relationship. It’s not easy in general to switch from a heavy scene to something lighthearted, but to do it so quickly shows an immense amount of ability and focus, and the actors don’t just need to deal with the various outcomes of their conversations and choices therein, but also the time jumping that Payne has built into the play, each of those aspects presenting a unique set of challenges for this pair. In a space like Theatre33, and with Marianna’s lighting, it’s also a treat to be able to see the actors’ faces and their emotions. Their chemistry on stage is believable, it makes the audience hopeful for their relationship to work, and heartbroken when it seems it won’t. The design of Constellations is exquisite, but it’s the actors that make this play the three dimensional, emotional tale of love that the playwright intended.
With Constellations, Theatre33 proves that sometimes the best theatre can be found in the smallest places. Magnificently designed, soulfully acted, and just superbly put together, Constellations, a story of love and perseverance, asks us to consider the choices we make, or don’t make, and what impact each have on our lives, and how with an infinite number of outcomes that our lives and relationships could have, that the path and time on which we find ourselves is precisely the one we need to be on.
Constellations, produced by Theatre33 has closed, but if you’d like more information on the theatre organization, including upcoming shows and other programs, and for ticket sales, visit https://www.theatre33wa.org/. While the play has closed, Theatre33 will be taking it to Washington State Community Theatre Association’s Kaleidoscope Festival on February 13-15 in Spokane. For more information on that event, head out to the event website at https://stagelefttheater.org/.
Photo credit: Marina Savilova, Maria Levochkina, and Sofiia and Liubov Davidov
