Constellations opens with a seemingly playful question: why is it impossible to lick the tip of your own elbow? From this quirky start, a quantum physicist meets a beekeeper at a soggy barbecue, one drink exchanged, and suddenly a multitude of possible futures unfolds.
The story follows three couples, heterosexual, gay, and lesbian, playing the same relationships in slightly altered parallel universes, packed with awkward BBQs, quirky pickup lines, honey-shopping anxieties, humorous asides and ballroom classes as wedding preparation.
Marianne, a university lecturer, navigates social awkwardness and intellectual curiosity; Roland, a beekeeper, exudes warmth and grounded charm; Matthew struggles with work anxiety and a need for control; Rosie and Marianne explore quieter emotional bonds.
These repeated scenes, each marked by a sound cue, have tiny variations gradually revealing the characters and themes. Every small choice - staying the night, a word left unsaid, a glance or hesitation - ripples across timelines, showing how subtly different actions can shape a life and a relationship.
For the audience, these micro-changes transform repetition into reflection: humour can turn to poignancy, and what seems trivial becomes emotionally charged. The play’s multiverse principle - mirrored lives unfolding like particles rather than free will lends abstract quantum concepts human weight.
The story emerges gradually, shifting from whimsy to far heavier territory. Through the initially disorientating mirrored sequences the connections emerge between choices, actions, and emotional outcomes. This slow unveiling makes the thematic payoff of love, chance, mortality, and the fragility of human connection satisfying, but it demands attentive viewing.
The cast deliver committed performances, from quietly devastating to contrast and feisty precision. The emotional core - tender, witty, and reflective - remains compelling, though some may find the structural complexity more intellectually stimulating than viscerally engaging on stage.
This unusual rom-com tragedy transforms into a layered meditation on love, choice, and the infinite possibilities of human connection.
Show Times: 18 to 23 August 2025 at 5.40pm.
Tickets: £10 (£8).
Suitability: 14+ (Note - The show contains strong language / swearing, scenes of a sexual nature and of violence and distressing or potentially triggering themes).