It is often said that the fate of lovers is written in the stars, but for the characters of the play Constellations, things aren’t that simple. The play, which was originally written by Nick Payne and given a new life under the direction of Connecticut College’s Katie Rooney ’21, focuses on the lives of two individuals—a down-to-earth beekeeper and a struggling science professor—and how these two seemingly different lives might come together or fall apart across multiple alternate realities.
The two protagonists of the play, Marianne and Roland, have a chance meeting at the barbecue of a mutual friend. Sparks fly, but the audience soon learns that Roland is married when he tells Mary that his wife is off fetching drinks. A chime sounds. The scene repeats, almost exactly the same, only now Roland, instead of being married, has just suffered a bad break up. The show continues in this respect, offering viewers a glimpse of the same scenes over and over, only each time the new scene is played out in parallel universe where some aspects of the scenario have been changed. This forces the audience to come face to face with the question: what if things happened this way instead?
Photo courtesy of Katie Rooney.
The play displays a gorgeous balance of both joy and sorrow. In some scenes, the audience is laughing at a cheesy proposal repeated over and over again, emulating a charming Groundhog Day-like wit. Other scenes show the play taking on a darker tone, fully turning around such that the audience is now mourning, their heart strings pulled tightly, like the scene where Marianne struggles to live her life with a horrid brain tumor over and over again.
The show is ultimately about time. Moreover, it’s about how we choose to spend our time and if what we do with our time truly matters at all in the grand scheme of the universe. Rooney pens in her Director’s Note, “I am essentially able to live at the mercy of chance, because who knows which word, choice, or idea will actually change my life.” The multiverse theory in this play is not there for the science fiction element, but to prompt audience members to instead think critically about the choices they have made and to wonder if they were the right ones. If this show were to be summed up in a single sentence, that sentence would have to be: the choices we make can affect the course of our whole lives, so choose wisely because you don’t get to go back and choose again.
Audrey Black ’21 played the role of physicist and outer-space analyst Marianne, who slowly comes face to face with her own mortality upon the realization that she has a brain tumor. Marianne’s intelligence makes her character intriguing because she has such a firm grasp on what the concept of time is, yet does not really understand what time means and how she should spend her numbered days. Black did a phenomenal job portraying this complex character. Audiences could feel how brutally Marianne’s illness is affecting her and how it is handicapping her brain, which before was her strongest asset. We witness Marianne’s character go from explaining complicated theories about the relativity of time to stumbling on her words as she tries to speak simple sentences. While many things in her life vary from universe to universe, her impending mortality and her illness remain an unchanging predicament.
Andre Thomas ’20 played Roland, a man trying to make a living at beekeeping whose life is changed, for better in some circumstances and for worse in others, upon a chance meeting with Marianne. Thomas does an incredible job portraying this character, especially considering that, from universe to universe, the character’s traits vary. In some instances, Roland helps and supports Marianne, and in others he abuses her, is rejected by her, or leaves her. Thomas’ ability to portray all these differing sides to Roland, while still conveying to the audience the essence of the original character was masterful. While Marianne struggles with the idea of time as a concrete and scientifically proven theory, Roland takes cues from his profession to grapple with the concept. Throughout the alternate universes he often brings up the lives of honey bees and how they work so hard only to be tossed from their hives when their time is up. So, like Black’s character, Thomas’ character also ponders if our time on this earth and the decisions we make are truly meaningful or just minute changes in an already set plan.
The show took place in Palmer 202, a small and homey theatre, which connected the audience to the play’s story and morals more than a bigger production space could have. The production space allowed the play’s strong message to be well received and ultimately reminded audiences about the fragility of time. With so many choices in our daily lives, sometimes we’re all a little starcrossed.
