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“Itwouldbepossibletodescribeeverythingscientifically,butitwouldmake
nosense;itwouldbe
withoutmeaning,asifyoudescribedaBeethovensymphonyasavariationofwavepressure.”
―AlbertEinstein
TableofContents
Playwright Biography………….……….4
Cast & Creative team ..………..………5
Synopsis………..……………………..5
Topics & Themes………………………6
Discussion Questions…………….…….7
Study Questions.…………………….…..8
Research Questions.……………………10
Classroom Activities.…….…...………..11
PLAYWRIGHTBIOGRAPHY:NickPayne
Nick Payne is a British playwright who was born in 1984. After graduating from the
University of York in 2006, he obtained an MA from London’s Central School of
Speech and Drama. As a young playwright he took jobs ancillary to the theatre to
make ends meet, such as being an usher at the Old Vic, and working at the National
Theatre bookshop, which he credits with giving him the time and resources to study
numerous plays. He continued to hone his craft as a participant in the Royal Court
Young Writers Programme, and in 2009 he found his first major success when his
play If There Is I Haven’t Found It Yet won the George Devine Award, a British prize
for a promising new playwright. The play was subsequently performed at the Bush
Theatre in London. In 2010 he became a full-time writer and the Pearson playwrightin-residence at the Bush, and his play Wanderlust premiered at the Royal Court
Theatre.
Constellations, which had been commissioned by the Royal Court Theatre and
opened at its Upstairs venue in January, 2012, is Payne’s most celebrated work to
date. It garnered him the Evening Standard newspaper’s Best Play Award (of which
he was the youngest ever recipient) and was nominated for the Laurence Olivier
Award for Best New Play. In January, 2015 the play opened in New York at the
Samuel J. Friedman Theatre, starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Ruth Wilson. In its review
of the performance the New York Times called the play possibly “the most
sophisticated date play Broadway has seen.”
“Sophisticated” is one of the best descriptions of Payne’s work in general. The
subjects of his plays are wide-ranging: from climate change to sex in the modern
world to the way we deal with bereavement. He does extensive research in order to
write his plays, and spends a great deal of time interviewing people who work on or
have direct experience with his subjects. He’s also interested in the
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distinctiveness of the theatrical form itself. Though he admits his earliest
work was
heavily influenced by film and TV, in a play like Constellations, he says, “I wanted to
write something that could only work in a theatre . . . . that is asking the audience to
actively imagine everything that is not here” (a planned film version of the play has
since been shelved). Though markedly intellectual, Payne’s work also stems from a
deep emotional well: he has pointed to the death of his father and the relationship with
his wife Minna Sharpe as shaping the themes of Constellations.
CASTANDCREATIVETEAM
Roland, played by Graham Cuthbertson
Marianne, played by Cara Ricketts
Cello player, Jane Chan
Director, Peter Hinton
SYNOPSIS
Constellations is prefaced by a simple, but important note from the playwright: “An
indented rule indicates a change in universe.” The play begins with its two characters
(a play for two characters is called a “two-hander”) meeting for the first time at a party.
Marianne flirts with Roland, but he abruptly shoots her down (“I’m. I’m in a
relationship. So. Yeah.”), and the scene ends (indicated by an indented rule). The
next scene begins exactly as the first did, with Marianne starting a conversation and
saying the same paragraph of dialogue. Roland’s response this time (“I’ve. I’ve just
come out of a really serious relationship. So. Yeah”) leads to a few more lines of
awkward interaction before its abrupt end. This scene at the party is played out five
times with variations of the dialogue’s content and the characters’ tone and attitude
toward one another until, by the last of these scenes, it is clear that they have finally
made a connection. Five different
universes, five different first encounters, one in which their relationship gets off the
ground.
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Photo David Hou
From 2005-2012, Peter was Artistic Director of
English Theatre at Canada’s National Arts Centre.
Previously, he was associate artist at The Stratford
Festival, Dramaturg in Residence at Playwrights
Workshop Montreal and Associate Artistic Director at
the Canadian Stage Company. Peter has taught at
the National Theatre School, Ryerson University and
is currently the professional mentor for the York
University/Canadian Stage MFA program in directing.
Upcoming projects include Millennial Malcontent for
Tarragon Theatre, All’s Well That Ends Well for The
Shakespeare Company, and Louis Riel for the
Canadian Opera Company. In 2009, Peter was made
an Officer of the Order of Canada.
This premise of a work that considers how a story might unfold in 6
different
“universes” drives the action of the rest of the play. There are many scenes, repeated
with variations (riffing is probably the best way to describe it), making up the story, but
these scenes can usefully be divided into seven “acts” or facets of the romantic
relationship. After their first meeting at the party, Marianne and Roland go on their first
date and we have eight scenes of the end of their evening together. There is an
episode of infidelity (seven scenes) where one (or the other of them) admits to
sleeping with another person. After breaking up, they reconnect through a chance
meeting at a ballroom dancing class. In the fifth act Roland proposes to Marianne
(with varying degrees of success). The penultimate act sees Marianne, who now has
cancer, sharing the results of her biopsy with Roland. And, finally, Marianne and
Roland make preparations for a last trip together, ostensibly for Marianne to find relief
from her deteriorating condition in the form of euthanasia (referred to now in Canada
as doctor-assisted dying). The play ends with a brief coda in the form of a variation on
the ballroom dancing encounter.
The other important structural feature to be aware of is the single scenes (in the script
they are in italics) that separate each of the “acts.” These are “flash forwards” to a
conversation, occurring before they take their last trip together, in which Marianne and
Roland discuss the recent death of Marianne’s mother, Marianne’s deteriorating
condition, and how she might end her suffering.
These are the broad actions of the play. There are not a lot of other turns in the plot:
the story is carried along by the subtle variation in detail that the playwright presents
through succeeding scenes. In so doing he is able to present the audience with
strikingly different views of the characters. In addition, it is through these small
changes in words, perspective and tone that the playwright explores the topics and
themes that are central to the play.
TOPICSandTHEMES
1. Romance and dating
2. Gender roles
3. Social relations
4. Word power (denotative / connotative)
5. The nature of love
6. Time and space
7. Multiple universes (infinity vs. the finite)
8. Fate, chance and free will
9. Meaning / purpose of life
10. Science / intellect / order / materialism vs. humanism / feeling / chaos /
romanticism
11. Humanity and the natural world
12. Challenging theatrical conventions
13. Ambiguity and ambivalence
14. The nature of truth
15. Terminal illness and end of life
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DISCUSSIONQUESTIONS:
1. As you watched or read the play, which character, Roland or Marianne, did you feel
more of an affinity for? Did these feelings change at all as the play wore on? Can you
imagine being in a romantic relationship with either of the characters?
2. How would the play have been different if Payne had made Roland a scientist and
Marianne a beekeeper? Is the playwright making a statement about gender dynamics
by casting them in the occupations they have? Have we come to a point where
expectations about the jobs we hold have nothing to do anymore with whether we are
male or female?
3. Nick Payne has said that Constellations is a creation that “could only work in a
theatre,” and a planned film version was abandoned. Do you agree with Payne that
the play’s unique structure makes it unsuitable for film adaptation? If you were making
Constellations into a movie, how would you maintain the play’s overall themes and
ideas? Are their techniques used in the cinema that would actually be well suited to
adapting the work to film?
4. Following from the play’s central notion of a “multiverse,” a key idea in the play, as
spoken by Marianne, is that “at any given moment, several outcomes can co-exist
simultaneously.” We see these various outcomes in the different scenes portrayed for
each of the play’s “acts.” Do you think the play simply presents a collection of different
possible stories for Roland and Marianne or is there a “true” or “real” version of their
story? When you think of your own life, do you see it unfolding as a singular,
purposeful series of events or have there been and will there be “other” versions of
you? Is your life’s direction determined by fate, chance or your own free will?
5. What do you think of the way Marianne deals with her brain tumour? If you were
diagnosed with a debilitating, fatal illness, would you explore the possibilities for
euthanasia or would you try to prolong the length of time you have with loved ones as
long as possible? Would your feelings change if it was a close relative rather than
yourself who was diagnosed with a terminal illness? What do you think of Canada’s
new doctor-assisted dying legislation, which became law in June, 2016 (if you’re not
familiar with it, you can do a little internet research)? What has changed in our society
that has allowed us to take this new approach to the end of life?
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STUDYQUESTIONS
1. At the beginning of the play, Nick Payne provides a note to the director that reads:
“An indented rule indicates a change in universe.” In what way does Constellations
challenge typical playwriting conventions regarding act/scene division? How is the
theme or content of the play reflected in the form or structure created?
2. The opening speech of the play, made by Marianne, is repeated word-for-word three times in
successive scenes.
MARIANNE. Do you know why it’s impossible to lick the tips of your elbows? They hold the
secret to immortality, so if you could lick them, there’s a chance you’d be able to live forever.
But if everyone did it, if everyone could actually lick the tips of their elbows, then there’d be
chaos. Because you can’t just go on living and living and living.
a) Examine the speech closely for any words or concepts that relate to themes in the
play.
b) What does the audience, hearing these words for the first time, see Marianne
trying to do through this speech? (Hint: her tone is a playful one)
c) What do your different answers to a) and b) show the playwright is saying about
words and their meaning (you may want to look up the terms “denotative” and
“connotative”)?
d) Are there other scenes in the play where these two aspects of language are
employed?
3. In the first two acts Marianne and Roland meet at a party, and then have a date. Is
there a kind of evolution in these scenes? Why does Payne make their interactions
slightly awkward and unromantic? What do their interactions suggest about the
nature of dating and the dance of courtship? The third act, when they fight about
adultery, evolves quite differently; how does the audience feel at the end of that act?
4. The structure of this play, repetition with variation, allows the playwright to elicit
certain reactions from the audience. What effect is created by the following sets of
passages:
a) “The centre parting? You mean the bloke with the centre parting?”; “Dandruff? You
mean the bloke with the dandruff?”; “She’s going bald, Roland, she’s going fucking
bald” .
b) “Mary, I’m sorry”; “Roland, I’m sorry”.
c) “And if you think you’ve got another couple of months in you”; “And if you think
you’ve got another couple of weeks in you”.
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5. What is the playwright trying to say by having the characters do an entire scene in
sign language? What is the effect of this scene on the audience?
6. In the full flash forward scene, as Marianne describes her feelings to Roland, at
several points she struggles with language, incapable of articulating the word she
wants to say due to her illness. What comes out generally conveys the “denotative”
meaning she was after but also has a “connotative” meaning in its own right. (See end
of guide for passage).
For example, in describing her misgivings about the progress of her treatment she
says, “It’s ganging . . . It’s . . . It’s” and then changes to “I was coming home . . .” as
she begins the story about being abused on the train. Likely she was at first aiming to
say “It’s going” (denotative) and would have added “poorly” or “badly” but the word
“ganging” also relates to the men who ganged up on her on the train and points to the
emotional trauma that is pushing her to consider taking her own life (connotative).
See if you can explain both the denotative and connotative meanings of the words
Marianne stumbles over in the passage.
7. It is often said that opposites attract. How is this true of Roland and Marianne?
What parts of their relationship work well, and in what areas do they face challenges?
8. Roland and Marianne’s occupations tell us a lot about their characters.
a) What kind of person do you associate with beekeeping? Look at Roland’s
description of how he used to keep honey in bin bags. Why is Marianne so impressed
with this story? What does it tell us about Roland? Next, consider Roland’s proposal.
How does it express his view of his own place in the world and of Marianne?
b) What kind of person do you associate with science? Examine Marianne’s
description of her work. How does her view of the universe and her attitude toward life
differ from Roland’s?
9. If Roland’s view of the universe might be called romantic or humanistic,
Marianne’s might be labeled materialistic or mechanistic. How does the playwright
capture these different views in the structure of his play and the evolution of the love
story? Does one view ultimately win out in the end?
10. Time is a central motif in the play: the lengths of their affairs with other people—
and how many times they had illicit sex; how much time Marianne has left to live; her
reaction to other people’s fatalism: “‘Time’, I mean what on earth are they even talking
about”; the repeated question: “what time is it”. All of these references seem to relate
to her final disquisition on time in the penultimate scene. What do you think they say
about her view of Roland, of love, and of her own place in the universe? (For more on
this theme see research question #2).
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11. What is ironic about Marianne having cancer? Though her 10
cancer is
possibly inherited (her mother suffered from a long-term illness), what do you
make of her comment that she works with “Radiation left over from the big bang”,
especially given that she generally sees the universe as inert and meaningless? Why
do you think Payne chose brain cancer rather than another disease for Marianne?
12. Marianne says, “In none of our equations do we see any sign whatsoever of any
evidence of free will.” However she ends the flash forward with the plea, “I have to . . .
have to . . . make a . . . I have to have a choice. Control”. What do you make of
these contrasting statements? Which one do you think the playwright favours?
13. Why do you think Payne chose to end the play with another ballroom
dancing scene? How would you characterize this scene compared to the earlier
versions? What does its tone suggest about their relationship? What does its tone
suggest about meaning in the universe? How does Roland’s final speech capture
some of the tensions and ambiguities expressed throughout the play?
RESEARCHQUESTIONS:
1. Consider the title of the play: there are several senses of the word “constellation.”
Using one or more dictionaries (the Oxford English Dictionary may be particularly
useful with this research), identify four different definitions of the word. How might
each definition relate to a theme expressed in the play? Why did the playwright make
his title a plural word rather than a singular one?
2. In a key passage near the end of the play (pages 68-69) Marianne offers two
distinct views of time. She says we normally think of time as being asymmetrical, “like
an arrow from p-past to present”; shortly thereafter she says that in fact time is
symmetrical, that “time is irrelevant at the level of a-atoms and molecules . . . . We
have all the time we’ve always had.” Using an encyclopedia or online sources, read
about Arthur Eddington’s “Arrow of Time.” This is a complex scientific / philosophical
concept, but see if you can get enough of an idea about it to help you explain what
Marianne – as well as the playwright – is trying to say toward the end of the play.
3. Nick Payne has said that Constellations was partly inspired
by a TV documentary presented by the American theoretical
physicist Brian Greene, author of The Elegant Universe. To
better understand some of the concepts Marianne talks about
in the play, watch Greene’s Ted Talk, Is Our Universe the Only
Universe? Greene explains how other universes might be
possible, but he does not really talk about the “unimaginably
vast ensemble of parallel universes” that Marianne tells
Roland about (page 17). Do some more research online to
learn about the implications of the idea of an infinite number of
universes.
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CLASSROOMACTIVITIES
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1. Understanding the difference between the denotative and connotative meanings
of words:
a) Students are asked to name the Canadian NHL teams (Vancouver Canucks,
Edmonton Oilers, Calgary Flames, Winnipeg Jets, Toronto Maple Leafs, Ottawa
Senators, and Montreal Canadiens), and these names are written in a list on the
board. Another column is created next to the team names headed “Denotative,” and
the class identifies the literal meaning of each team name (some, like the Flames, Jets
and Maple Leafs may be easy; the others may take some explaining). Next, another
column headed “Connotative” is added to the board. Now students need to think about
what the team names convey, why they were chosen, what emotions or reactions they
might conjure.
Discussion will probably touch on the contemporary relevance of words like “Canucks”
and “Senators,” the cultural/political implications of “Canadiens,” and the
environmental associations of “Oilers.” Other team names such as the Chicago Black
Hawks or Washington Redskins (football) might also be discussed. Finally, students
(either individually or in groups) are asked to create their own name for a hypothetical
future Canadian NHL team. They should be prepared to explain both the denotative
and connotative meanings of the name to the class.
b) One way to understand the connotative significations of words is to consider the
way we make abstract concepts more real or tangible through the concrete
symbols we associate with those abstractions.
For example, when someone is given the word “love” and asked to name something
one might associate with that word that can be perceived through the senses (touch,
sight, hearing, taste or smell), the person will possibly say “heart.” Though, it could be
argued that the heart has little to do with emotion or love, Valentine’s Day attests to
the power of this concrete, tangible shape. To practice making this kind of association,
students can be given a list of abstract concepts like the following: pain, childhood,
happiness, solitude, beauty, justice, truth, brutality, sacrifice, and altruism. Next to
each abstract word they are to write an appropriate concrete word. It is interesting,
during discussion, to hear some of the tangible words they associate with these
abstract concepts.
2. In pairs, students write their own scene of one of the “acts” of the play (e.g.
they could write a version of the infidelity altercation). The scene should follow Nick
Payne’s method of “riffing” off an earlier scene by beginning with lines that connect to
an earlier version and then branching into other possibilities. The groups could read
their scenes to the class or act them out, but they should be prepared to explain why
they wrote the scene the way they did, the reasons for certain changes, and how
these changes alter the story of Roland and Marianne.
3. Marianne and Roland have different temperaments, occupations, and world views.
Using a visual medium—drawing, painting, collage, etc.—students attempt to
represent the differences between these characters. If there are points of complicity or
connection between these characters, these can be represented as well.
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4. Dating rituals across time and space: Students research how human courting
rituals have changed over the last 100 years. The roles of community and family, the
balance between the sexes, the importance of status and material goods, and
entertainment and media (and social media) can all be considered for the way they
have shaped dating rituals over time. If they are not of European descent, students
can also reflect on how courtship in their own cultures differs from that practiced by
mainstream North American youth. An interesting class discussion could focus on
whether modern dating is preferable to traditional forms as practiced in past European
or other cultures. To crystallize their thoughts, in small groups, students could write a
script for a scene involving singles at a party looking to make romantic connections. At
least one group should write the scene from a modern mainstream perspective (giving
voice to alternative gender/sexual identity positions if they desire), while other groups
could present the same party from different temporal or cultural perspectives.
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FlashForwardsceneinConstellations
(correspondstoquestion6inStudyQuestionssection.)
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WorksCited:Constellations,NickPayne,FaberandFaberLimited(London,
2012).Pp58-65.
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