Constellations a spectacular acting exercise

CONSTELLATIONS consists of a handful of scenes from the lifespan of a couple and plays out those scenes in a variety of ways.

Constellations

CONSTELLATIONS is a simple play. It consists of a handful of scenes from the lifespan of a couple (meeting, first date, marriage proposal and so on) and plays out those scenes in a variety of ways, often back to back. It takes the cosmological theory of parallel universes - that there is an infinite number of complete universes, one for every option of every choice we've ever had in our lives - and turns it into a spectacular acting exercise.

Superficially, it is a play about choice and decision making. For Marianne (Alison Bell) - whose area of expertise is "theoretical, early-universe cosmology'' - maintaining the illusion that she exerts some kind of control over her fate is absolutely vital. For Marianne's unlikely boyfriend Roland (Leon Ford), a beekeeper, life is more Hobbesian. For his bees, it's highly regimented, short and brutish - especially for the male of the species - but that makes every choice urgent. So this painfully shy boy acts with impressive boldness.

Playwright Nick Payne homes in on key points in the lives of his protagonists where real choice is denied them: when they are cheated on and dumped, or where they are victims of random fate. (Is my cancer type one or type four? Can I look forward to a full recovery or an imminent death?)

This play will clog up our acting schools and amateur theatres for a generation. It's an absolute gift for actors. And, when performed with the panache and skill Bell and Ford bring to it, it's a gift for audiences. The repetitions and variations allow us to watch the actors in turn, and to watch the skills they bring to each incarnation. We're swept up in their characterisations but, simultaneously, we see - and are awe-struck by - their craft.

The staging of the play (by director Leticia Caceres and designer Marg Horwell) is wonderfully nuanced and mysterious. A planetary system of mirror balls sits mutely at the rear of the stage, inviting our curiosity but trusting us to decode its significance for ourselves. Ditto the chandelier, the expanse of pub carpet, the dance floor. Also impressive is Caceres' blocking of the actors. When Marianne backs away from an advancing Roland, it brilliantly echoes a move we've seen in a ballroom dance class where the two encounter one another, possibly for the last time.

Theoretically, in another one of the myriad universes, there is a better production to be found of this play. But this one is here, now, and as close to flawless as you could hope to find.

Constellations
By Nick Payne. Melbourne Theatre Company. Fairfax Studio, the Arts Centre Melbourne, February 13
Tickets: $58-$99. Bookings: [phone] or online. Until March 23.