Review: A Random Encounter Aligns Two Lost Souls in HEISENBERG
at Skylight Theatre through December 22
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Named for the German physicist and philosopher Werner Heisenberg to express his “Uncertainty Principal” about the randomness and chaos which aligns the universe, playwright Simon Stephens chose to translate that theory into human behavior through the journey of Georgie and Alex who somehow find each each other randomly inside a train station and manage to align and create hope in their lives that things can work out, even if just for now – however long that is.
Brilliantly told on Tesshi Nakagawa’s minimalistic scenic design consisting of wood platforms and simple tables and lit to enhance mood and create focus by Ken Booth, award-winning director Cameron Watson invites us to watch the story of two lost souls looking for human connection who bloom and blossom after randomly meeting in a world that seems to consistently separate them from others into perpetual loneliness.
Heisenberg stars Paul Eiding and Juls Hoover who both give astonishingly heartfelt performances as Alex and Georgie, who, though operating from opposite sides of the human behavior pendulum, alter each other's trajectories and evolve away from the safety of keeping things they way they are and moving into both terrifying and exhilarating unknown friendship territory. Somehow they manage to eventually meet in the middle, each pulling a bit from the other into their own psyche to create common ground upon which both can stand united together.
Theirs is an intense journey full of secrets, hopes, dreams, and heartbreak with their alignment seemingly destined to fail when they first meet since Hoover’s Georgie an anxious, continuously talking and telling lies woman of “a certain age” looking for a man willing to let her banter on and on while paying the bill for her to do so. The older Alex, on the other hand, seems the quiet, studious type, the kind of country gentleman you would find in a London park being perfectly continent feeding the pigeons.
But looks can be deceiving in all things in life, and confusion and silence does not mean you have nothing to say. That these two can connect at all is a tribute to their ability to recognize the need and be ready for change in life, no matter the origin or how terrifying that possibility seems.
And just where do you place yourself on experiencing life from Alex’s viewpoint, “I don’t feel, I think!” to Georgie’s, “I don’t think, I feel.” How could you ever find a middle ground between the two to exist with someone from the other side? I encourage you to experience a very evocative and heartwarming 80 minutes’ worth of looking at both sides thanks to Simon Stephens’ incredibly intricate and brilliantly astute dialogue about our common human psyche.
Enhanced by scene-enhancing sound design by Jeff Gardner and costume pieces designed by Kate Bergh to be quickly changed onstage between scenes, Heisenberg is presented by Brave Space Productions, LLC through Sunday, December 21, 2025 at The Skylight Theatre, 1816 1/2 N. Vermont Ave. in Los Feliz, with performances on Fridays & Saturdays at 8pm; Sundays at 2pm. Tickets are $40 (Students and Seniors are $30), available with more show information at https://www.bravespaceproductions.com/
Photos of Juls Hoover and Paul Eiding credit: Jeff Lorch
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