Since coming to New York, I have seen two Broadway musicals, but not a play. This morning I was browsing Today Tix and spontaneously bought a $30 ticket to see "Heisenberg," an Off-Broadway, one act play, starring Mary-Louise Parker and Denis Arndt, playing Georgie and Alex, respectively. I had been wanting to see this play for a while as it was written by English playwright Simon Stephens, who adapted "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime" for the stage, which I saw in London and absolutely loved. "Heisenberg" is presented by The Manhattan Theatre Club, and is running at the Samuel J Friedman Theatre. The play’s concept is based on theoretical physicist Werner Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle, which states "that the position and the velocity of an object cannot both be measured exactly, at the same time, even in theory." This can be applied to the meeting between the two characters.
The setting of the play is very simple; it is purely 80 minutes of straight dialogue cut with very short intermissions allowing the actors to rearrange the set, which is also very simple. The stage is almost bare: two tables, two chairs, two actors. However, most of the stage is taken up with tiered seating. The audience is sitting on the stage directly facing the rest of the audience. This set up directs our entire focus on the two characters and how they react to each other. There is no distracting set, no props, no extra people; just Georgie and Alex.
"Heisenberg" is purely about the relationship between the two, and how this relationship changes each character, individually and in relation to the other. It begins with a chance encounter that results in an odd couple. This is a familiar storyline, but Stephens writes far more than the typical boy-meets-girl tale. The unlikely couple share similar life experiences surrounding loss and rejection, which brings them together in an otherwise strange circumstance. They have led separate lives, are a generation apart, and would never have met if not for Georgie ‘accidentally’ kissing the back of Alex’s head.
A line that stood out to me was delivered by Alex, when he said, "We hold very different perspectives on experiences we imagine we're sharing, don't we?" I think this feeling is universal, and this line epitomizes how people who might be completely unrelated to one another can go through similar experiences and relationships and can feel the same way as the other did. Maybe they are not such an odd couple after all. Another message the play seemed to argue was that it is never too late. You never know when you will meet the one person who will change your life forever, you might be 10, 21, 33, or 42 like Georgie, or 75 like Alex. It is never too late to meet new people, go to new places, have new experiences.
"Heisenberg" is a striking, thought provoking play that explores the fundamental elements of a relationship; from the meeting, getting to know each other, understanding what it means to be in a relationship and how you change with one another. It asks questions and offers answers, and leaves you to explore and discover a new found perspective on your life and the people that are in it; past, present and future.
