Skip to main content Skip to footer site map

Review: CONSTELLATIONS at Brown/Trinity MFA

The play is a sparkling production of Nick Payne's twisty multiverse.

Review: CONSTELLATIONS at Brown/Trinity MFA

The multiverse is everywhere now, replete with comic-book heroes and supervillain finger snaps, but in 2014, when British playwright Nick Payne wrote "Constellations," it was still pretty edgy. The Brown/Trinity MFA production captures the exciting energy of his vision with two fine performances and highly creative staging.

Marianne is a Cambridge University astrophysicist, and Roland is a beekeeper, and they meet cute at a friend's barbecue. They fall instantly in love. No, Roland is married. No, rather, Roland just came out of a serious relationship. No, now, Marianne is in a relationship. Wait, we've flashed forward and Marianne is having trouble speaking...

As Marianne says about her work examining the indeterminacy of the quantum realm, sometimes there is "no linear explanation." So while on the surface, Payne's play is a love story with -- perhaps -- a tragic ending, it is in reality half-a-dozen love stories, all intercut and branching, following, as Marianne says, "Every choice, every decision you've ever and never made," following these two characters through multiple paths in this tight, 75-minute gem of a script.

The two characters, Marianne (Rebecca-Anne Whittaker), and Roland (Liam MacDougall) are played with charm and energy by these Brown acting MFA students, both class of 22/23.

Whittaker has perhaps the tougher challenge, as many branches of the multiverse find her struggling with a loss of speech induced by a glioblastoma. She vividly portrays deep frustration and fear, and her emulation of the halting speech patterns associated with Broca's aphasia is frighteningly accurate. It is a chilling performance.

MacDougall is a genial counterpoint to Whittaker's intensity, sometimes puzzled, a little overwhelmed by her academic exuberance. He plays a perfect beekeeper to her physicist, with an endearing authenticity and a deep love that shows through, no matter which situation they find themselves in. It is a rich, convincing portrayal.

Directing student Carol Ann Tan (class of 2022) has staged the action cleverly, accompanying every change in "universe" with a brief blackout, a distinctive audio cue, and a rapid movement to a new position by MacDougall and Whittaker. Tan has a very clear vision, and it serves to keep what could become confusing multiple storylines straight. It is highly competent and assured direction, and speaks volumes about both Tan's skill and the quality of the Brown/Trinity training program.

Particularly impressive is Tan's use of the environment. The play is done in the round, and the set and space, designed by Johanna Pan and Patrick Lynch, is a spare, unadorned 15-foot circle on the floor marked off with fragments of tinsel. Tann moves the actors with clear intent, often using location to countersink a point. For example, Marianne always returns to precisely the same spot -- arguably for ironic effect -- when she reaches the line, "I have to have a choice."

Lighting designer Nic Vincent has done a fine job at covering and isolating the action as needed, and the fades and bumps associated with the many switches among branches of the multiverse are fantastically complicated and well executed, as is Elliot Yokum's sound design, which provides the sonic accompaniment as the world shifts.

This is not an easy show to produce; in less competent hands, one could easily lose an audience in its multiple digressions. But here, sure direction and fine performances keep us anchored to the thread of reality that winds through them all: the verity of love, the anguish of loss, and the deeply human challenge of choice.

Brown/Trinity Rep MFA presents Nick Payne's Constellations, directed by Carol Ann Tan. At the Pell Chafee Performance Center at 87 Empire Street, Providence. Performances March 6, 7, 9 at 7:30 pm. Tickets: Student $6 Senior $8 Adult $12, available by phone at (401) 351-4242, online at www.trinityrep.com/buy-tickets/ and at the box office 201 Washington Street, Providence. Mask and proof of vaccination required.

Photo by Mark Turek



THE CHILDREN Closes Gamm Season in April Photo
The Sandra Feinstein-Gamm Theatre (The Gamm) closes its 2022-23 season with The Children, British playwright Lucy Kirkwood’s award-winning and Tony nominated play. A riveting eco-drama infused with dark humor, The Children runs from April 27 to May 14.

Review: WITCH provokes at Burbage Theater Co Photo
What did our critic think of WITCH at Burbage Theater Co? In the world of WITCH - written by rising playwright Jen Silverman - demons are self-proclaimed 'merchants of hope' for people whose desires and fears have been forged by capitalism and patriarchy. Scratch (Zach Gibb) - a 'junior salesman' who believes earnestly in the merit of his profession - has been roaming the dark corners of an historically indeterminate Edmonton, where he's been collecting souls in exchange for wishes. It's easy work until he meets Elizabeth (MJ Daly), the town outcast who leads him to reconsider the value of the souls he takes and the deals he makes in exchange for them. After all, what's a wish worth in a system that confines our imaginations within its walls? And wouldn't a soul outside these walls be more valuable - and dangerous - than anything we could conceive from within them?

Photos: Go Inside Rehearsals For INDECENT At Wilbury Theatre Group Photo
See rehearsal photos of Indecent at Wilbury Theatre Group!

Review: ELEMENTS at Newport Contemporary Ballet Photo
What did our critic think of ELEMENTS AT NEWPORT CONTEMPORARY BALLET at Newport Contemporary Ballet?


From This Author - John McDaid

John G. McDaid is an award-winning science fiction writer and freelance journalist from Portsmouth, RI. He grew up in NYC, where visits to Broadway sparked a life-long love of theater. He worked bo... (read more about this author)


Review: /A.DICK.TED/ at Wilbury Theatre GroupReview: /A.DICK.TED/ at Wilbury Theatre Group
February 26, 2023

Wilbury mounts Teddy Lytle's trenchant, stylish (mostly) one-man show with music about addiction and recovery

Review: THE OLDEST PROFESSION at Burbage Theatre CompanyReview: THE OLDEST PROFESSION at Burbage Theatre Company
January 29, 2023

What did our critic think of THE OLDEST PROFESSION at Burbage Theatre Company?

Review: WE'RE GONNA DIE at Wilbury Theatre GroupReview: WE'RE GONNA DIE at Wilbury Theatre Group
January 27, 2023

What did our critic think of WE'RE GONNA DIE at Wilbury Theatre Group?

Review: FAITH HEALER at Gamm TheatreReview: FAITH HEALER at Gamm Theatre
January 20, 2023

What did our critic think of FAITH HEALER at Gamm Theatre?

Review: JAGGED LITTLE PILL at Providence Performing Arts CenterReview: JAGGED LITTLE PILL at Providence Performing Arts Center
January 19, 2023

What did our critic think of JAGGED LITTLE PILL at Providence Performing Arts Center?