Review of Rubicon’s “Constellations”

“The possibilities are endless” is a turn of phrase typically used for hyperbolic effect. But for  British playwright Nick Payne, it’s the literal premise of Constellations, his multiverse-hopping love story that eloquently appeals to both the head and heart in a razor-sharp staging by Ventura’s Rubicon Theatre Company.

Part romance, part theoretical physics brain-teaser, Payne’s two-hander charts the course of a relationship through a kaleidoscopic series of snapshots at key turning points along the way. The journey starts innocently enough with a chance meeting at a barbecue, as quirky Cambridge astrophysicist Marianne (Kodi Jackman) strikes up a conversation with Roland (Tom Ainsley), a gentle, down-to-earth beekeeper, about the impossibility of licking one’s own elbow, and the metaphysical implications thereof.

The meet-cute setup seems familiar territory at first, but in a jolting challenge to narrative expectations the same basic encounter is replayed multiple times, each with variances—some subtle, some substantial—and different resulting outcomes. Are both of these people single? If so, are they open to a relationship? Does the encounter fizzle? Or is there a spark of mutual attraction? Each possibility is explored in the dramatic equivalent of classical music theme-and-variation.

Following the most promising alternative at each crossroad, the pattern continues through subsequent pivotal encounters in Roland and Marianne’s journey: their first date, a breakup over infidelity, a reconciliation—each plays out in multiple ways before we follow a branch that leads to the next phase of their relationship.

Marianne’s scientific know-how may be way over Roland’s head, but it comes in handy for succinctly clarifying what we’re watching. In the course of attempting to explain modern String Theory to him, she raises the concept of a Mulitverse in which, at any given moment, several outcomes can co-exist simultaneously. “In the Quantum Multiverse,” she tells him, “every choice, every decision you’ve ever and never made exists in an unimaginably vast ensemble of parallel universes.”

Each of the play’s episodic variations, then, offers us a glimpse into one of those possible divergent universes.

These narrative “constellations” of alternate possibilities make for an intricately constructed story. But what makes it more than a dazzling cerebral exercise is playwright Payne’s signature ability to combine abstract concepts with sympathetic characters we immediately like and care about. Ainsley and Jackman’s fine performances fulfill that mission, maintaining clarity and visceral chemistry while adapting to lightning-fast reality shifts requiring very different tonal shadings. Just as impressive is their success in keeping on track amid multiple replays and permutations of the same basic dialog and events without losing their place.

Assured direction by Jonathan Fox traces a dramatic arc that opens on a note of rom-com hilarity but steadily deepens and darkens with increasingly challenging tests of love, loyalty, and mortality. Fox’s staging benefits to an exceptional degree from designer François-Pierre Couture’s stunning use of lighting cues to signal leaps within the multiverse and mirrored panels to visually emphasize its infinite scope.

While the possibilities may be endless, the play itself is not—clocking in at 65 minutes, it’s a marvel of compact storytelling and provocative cosmology.

Review by Philip Brandes.

Constellations is presented by Rubicon Theatre Company at the Karyn Jackson Theatre at 1006 E. Main Street in Ventura and plays through March 9, 2025. Tickets are available at (805) 667-2900 or www.rubicontheatre.org.