Play traces love through parallel realities
Making my way to the LSPU Hall on Thursday, I was in for a treat. Not only was I about to see the premiere performance of the St. John’s run of “Constellations,” I was also getting out of the house for the first time in days, following a nasty flu.
With a quick start, “Constellations” wasted no time, jumping into its complex storyline with no introduction. Its twoperson cast would, in just one hour, weave in and out of various timelines and realities, connecting some dots and leaving others lost in space.
Going in blind as I prefer to do when attending theatrical events, I caught myself wondering if I had missed something, but no, I hadn’t — I was in my seat long before the house lights dimmed.
Our stars, Marianne and Roland, have no real background information to share. In fact, background information would have to be presented in the form of a list, as we jump around from one reality to the next.
I gleaned, from oft-repeated lines with varying responses, thus changing the remainder of the conversation, that perhaps this play is a kind of commentary on how much influence our words have. Our responses are everything.
In the first scenario presented by Marianne and Roland, we meet the pair, who have just met at a barbecue. Sometimes she is single, or he is single, or he is taken or she is taken. Sometimes they flirt happily, sometimes they chat awkwardly.
There’s so much opportunity to say the “right” thing, but an equal amount of opportunity to say the “wrong” thing.
Funny, isn’t it? We never know what was “right” or what was “wrong” until the words have already flown out of our mouths.
We visit a number of timelines and realities throughout the show, all involving Marianne and Roland. Sometimes they are a successful couple, other times they are bitter exes. There are one-sided feelings, switching from one person to the other as the realities continue to mix and change.
An intense monologue about Marianne’s work in cosmology helps guide the theme of the play. There are supposedly infinite universes and infinite timelines, an endless amount of me’s and you’s, all saying the right and wrong things, shaping our infinite futures.
I thought I had pretty much nailed the theme and plot line, but the last 20 minutes of the show really threw me for a loop.
I stared, dumbfounded at what was unfolding on the stage, thinking, “Damn, I got lost somewhere along the way.”
I looked over at my friend next to me. Would she also have a look of confusion? She had a little smile on her face and was crying. She joked about how romance always gets to her. I was still lost.
With just an hour of running time, I guess that, like a strange art film, I can afford the time to watch it again, to see if I can figure out what I missed. Maybe I’m just not romantic enough to pick up on these love stories.
“Constellations” runs at the LSPU Hall in St. John’s until Feb. 23-25.