by Mark G. Auerbach
Graham Rowat and Kate Baldwin in Constellations, 2016. Photo by Emma Rothenberg-Ware.
Constellations, the inventive play by Nick Payne, is a boy meets girl story with a twist. In a world, where time stands still, moves fast forward, and/or goes backwards, a beekeeper, played by Graham Rowat, and a physicist, played by Kate Baldwin, meet, fall in love, meet again, reinvent their meeting, move forward with a relationship, slide sideways in their relationship. Over the course of a brisk sixty-plus minutes, beautifully staged by Gregg Edelman, we see a relationship in the making juxtaposed by a relationship envisioned and re-envisioned, rehearsed and performed.
Nick Payne is the young British playwright and screenwriter, whose breakthrough play, Constellations, was a London hit in 2012. Manhattan Theatre Club imported the show to Broadway for a limited run in 2015, in which film star Jake Gyllenhaal made his Broadway debut opposite Ruth Wilson. Payne is currently writing a play about Nobel prize-winning mathematician Paul Dirac.
Graham Rowat and Kate Baldwin in Constellations, 2016. Photo by Emma Rothenberg-Ware.
You may think that you need an expert in math or physics to explain the theory of time, as Constellations unfolds. I came to Stockbridge prepared in the company of my favorite math teacher, but was able to understand what was happening on the stage without a mid-show tutorial.
On Alan Edwards’ simple set, which Edwards also lights most effectively, Edelman stages a series of pas de deux for his fine cast. In the intimate Unicorn Theatre, it was fascinating to see Constellations unfold just a couple of feet away. Scott Killian’s sound design was great, and his musical underscoring fit Payne’s play very well.
The theatre “community” is one big family, and our area theatres attract actors and directors who return year after year to collaborate with other creatives they worked with many times before. Husband and wife duo Kate Baldwin and Graham Rowat have made Berkshire Theatre Group their summer home for the last three seasons. As the sparring count and countess in Sondheim’s A Little Night Music, the focus of the musical turned to them. They returned last year in the old chestnut Bells Are Ringing, and they were the raison d’etre for a Pittsfield trek. They’re back in the Berkshires through the month in this production, a non-musical. They’ve found Payne’s cadences and rhythms, and are, at times charming, at times stark, and always riveting. Incidentally, director Edelman co-starred with Baldwin and Rowat in A Little Night Music, and Edelman headlined last season’s production of DeathTrap.
Kate Baldwin and Graham Rowat in Constellations. Photo by Emma Rothenberg-Ware
Constellations is an interesting character study of two very different people, often in different places and time zones, as it were. Time may stand still for some lovers, and time may race, but I found Constellations to be a play with more than a twist or two that I’m glad I’ve seen.
Constellations runs through August 27.
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The Berkshire Theatre Group presents Constellations by Nick Payne. Directed by Gregg Edelman.. Scenic design and lighting design by Alan Edwards. Costume design by Laurie Churba. Sound Design by Scott Killian. Cast: Kate Baldwin as Marianne; Graham Rowat as Roland. .Through August 27 The Berkshire Theatre Group’s Fitzpatrick Main Stage, Stockbridge, MA. For tickets: 413-997-4444 or www.berkshiretheatregroup.org.
Mark G. Auerbach studied theatre at American University and the Yale School of Drama. He’s worked for arts organizations and reported on theatre for newspapers and radio.
