Payne’s play is an immense achievement in the clever scene and character creation, and over one-act, leaves an impact rarely achieved in such a short space of time. It is simply a two-hander play charting a relationship over an initial meeting at a barbecue to, well, you will have to see the show to find out where. However, the clever structure actually gives us a glimpse of the end of the play in the second scene, as this play uses parallel universes and bends time throughout.
Masque Theatre, like a lot of productions of this play, has different actors performing this play, and the evening I saw this, Brooke Gillingham and James Lickman were the actors portraying the characters of Marianne and Roland. And to say they were exceptional is perhaps an understatement. Their performances combined were up there with the very best community theatre in Northampton has offered.
Gillingham makes an incredible debut for Masque, totally embodying her character’s quirks and irks. The awkwardness during her elbow joke was comic, and her sadness was portrayed when dealing with an important life event, which was so emotive. It helps that Gillingham has an exceptionally expressive face on stage, just incredible.
Lickman likewise gives an amazing performance, very different in style perhaps, but nonetheless, expressive. He had brilliant timing in many of his reactions, and I absolutely loved his telling of the bee story, even after the fourth or fifth telling of it.
And this is the challenge with this play for the actors, scenes are repeated several times, and the skill of the performers keeps them fresh throughout, and you wonder each time how they will end.
Behind the brilliant actors, of course, is an immensely strong production team. Director Bex Francis Del Valle and assistant director Mairead Kearins have clearly coaxed every bit of talent out of the performers. There is an amazing amount of detail in the show, and the key to this is the obvious excellent direction, which is constantly on show.
While scene-shifting, repeating, and time drifts might make you think this is a difficult play to follow, it never is. A lot of this is down to some excellent lighting design from Megan Lucas, helping you to know where you are. Blue flashes represent a scene restart, and bright lighting and more sombre lighting represent respectively the beginnings and the end of the story. There are also some delightful scenes played under a star-filled sky. Overall, it is a beautifully lit show.
Constellations is a magical piece of theatre, with strong and powerful storytelling, and immensely good performances. Brooke and James perform for one final time Saturday evening, while Gemma Knight and Anthony Burgess take to the stage for the Friday evening and Saturday matinee. Try to catch this beautiful play if you can.
As good as community theatre gets.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
