Reading vs. Viewing Plays | Review: Constellations - Richmond Theatre
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I’ve been reading plays for around two years now. One of the first
plays I ever bought was One Day when We Were Young by Nick Payne. I’d never heard of
the playwright or the play itself but the cover drew me to it. I'm a sucker for anything 1940's looking. I took it home, read it and really enjoyed
it. So when I found myself in a bookshop a few months later looking for a new
play to read I picked up Constellations. Unlike One Day When We Were Young I
really struggled with reading it.
The play consists of snippets of conversations between the two characters, Marianne and Roland. Marianne works at the university processing data on quantum multiverse theory, which she explains is the theory that every choice you have, or haven't, made exists in a number of parallel universes. Each conversation is repeated a few times each with different outcomes from the parallel universes. There are no stage directions, which reading this off the back of some Noel Coward, left me hung up on how it was staged and how they transitioned between the different versions of the conversations. I gave up trying to read it and added it to the big pile of unread books on my bookcase. About a year later I tried again. This time finishing the play but still wondering what it would be like on stage.
I know there are people out there that hate the idea of reading plays. I can't remember who it was but I know I've been to a platform at the National Theatre where a writer or director, whoever it was, flat out said plays should not be read, they have to be seen. I however really enjoy them. Firstly I have a terrible habit of starting books and the moving on to something else before I've finished, even if I'm loving it. My pile of half read books is out of control. With a large amount of plays being around the 100-200 page mark I'm often finished before I even get a chance to be distracted by anything else and I don't find them as intimidating as starting a new novel.
There's also a joy in imagining how it plays out in your head and
being your own director and being able to imagine a character without projecting the
actor playing them on to them. Of course this is where it becomes great being
able to then see the play on stage and seeing how someone else imagined it but
that’s not always possible. Take Noel Coward’s Cavalcade for example, with such
a huge number of set changes it rarely gets staged and I doubt I’ll ever see it
but I got to enjoy reading it.
When it was announced that Constellations was going on a UK tour I
knew I had to go. I booked to go see it at Richmond Theatre. I’d been there
once before as a teenager to see Jenna Russell in Amy’s View but had absolutely
no recollection of Richmond itself (rather nice and nowhere near as far away as
I thought) or the theatre (strange sideways raking in the stalls which made me
glad it was only a 70 minute play). Of course the day after I booked they
announce a Westend run but that’s life.
Marianne and Roland were played by Louise
Brealey (Sherlock) and Joe Armstrong (Happy Valley). Both were brilliant,
switching effortlessly from moments of hilarity to sadness as each scenario
played out. The scenes from the parallel universes run chronologically but are interspersed
with a conversation from the future that we see backwards. Each time it’s
repeated we hear a little bit more of what was said before the last time we heard it. At first it doesn’t
make much sense but with each version your understanding of what’s happening grows.
The simplistic set, which just consists
of some white and grey balloons, managed to build the tension as the balloons
fell at increasing pace as the play came to its climax and the audience sees
played out in full what Nick Payne has cleverly been building to the whole time.
Constellations is proof some plays can’t just be read and demand to be seen.
Constellations is doing a limited run at
the Traflagar Studios 9th July - 1st August
http://www.royalcourttheatre.com/whats-on/constellations
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