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Constellations

For those who enjoy the feeling of déjà vu.
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Constellations sells itself as an exploration of quantum multiverse theory, an exposition of different possibilities resulting from choices made at any moment of time. In reality, this play is nothing more than the pretentious, uncreative repetition of lines that, in a gross misconception of multiverse theory, ultimately results in the same outcome. Playwright, Nick Payne, attempts to apply a clichéd concept to an even more superficial and unoriginal plot, creating a painful night of excruciating melodrama.

There are some romantics that may be enticed by the script. The premise is a relatively simple boy meets girl story involving Roland, an urban beekeeper and Marianne, a physicist. The play splices up various interactions of the couple into at least four different permutations each, albeit with practically the same dialogue for each scenario. The effect of such repetitive delivery creates the impression that the play runs like a badly tuned dress rehearsal, where the actors are subjected to experimenting with different tones to dreary effect.

With Lexi Sekuless’ depiction of Marianne being almost the polar opposite of a bland Kristian Jenkins in Roland, the chemistry between the two main characters is almost non-existent. Sekuless over acts the physicist to an almost agonising extent. Some of the incredulity around Marianne’s character can be attributed to the flimsy script. It is certainly hard to believe that Marianne works primarily in theoretical science when she opens the play attempting to lick her own elbows. In contrast, it’s hard to see what the attraction is to Roland. Jenkins sleepwalks through his portrayal of the beekeeper despite the couple’s love of honey being one of the main attractions drawing the two together.

Not only is the action on the stage mediocre, the presentation of the production is also ill-fitting. The drama owes a lot to the imagination due to the sparse stage decorated with minimal props. The bizarre Rubik’s cube theme of the stage lighting seems oddly retro considering the contemporary setting. With little else on the stage to attract the audience’s attention, the background fluorescents seem nothing more than a cheap and ineffectual distraction, choreographed with awkward and ill-timed sound effects.

Constellations comprises a thoroughly uninspiring script that delivers an utterly tedious hour and a half of cringe worthy boredom. The sporadic use of non-linear narrative foreshadowing the ultimate outcome of the couple seems forced and inappropriate, highlighting the propensity of the script to engage in experimental technique purely for the sake of it. The drip feed nature of the script gives little impression that the play recommends itself as a composite whole. Instead the piecemeal production sheds little light on the thematic intricacy of exploring the consequences flowing from action or inaction. Although there were definitely fans of the play in this audience, there was little of entertainment value or otherwise in this play to lend itself to this reviewer.

Rating: 1 star out of 5

Constellations
Written by Nick Payne
Directed by Caroline Stacey
Performed by Kristian Jenkins and Lexi Sekuless

The Street Theatre, Canberra
15-29 July 2017

 
Revelly Robinson
About the Author
Revelly Robinson is a playwright and novelist. Her debut science fiction novel Pangaea is available from Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/415698