By William Wolf

CONSTELLATIONS  Send This Review to a Friend

Jake Gyllenhaal and Ruth Wilson are putting on a jointly compelling display of acting in “Constellations,” the unusual play by Nick Payne presented by the Manhattan Theatre Club and Royal Court Theatre by special arrangement with the Ambassador Theatre Group and the Dodgers.

This is the Broadway debut for Gyllenhaal, best known for his film work, including his outstanding performance in last year’s “Nightcrawler.” Wilson is currently known for her television stardom in Showtime’s “The Affair,” but she has had extensive stage experience in her native England, where she has won awards. Both mesh skillfully on stage in this two-hander, making them bright stars in their own constellation.

The concept of the play is the “what if” factor, an examination of what might have happened to two people if different courses had been pursued. The author doesn’t pontificate, but instead sets up capsule situations between the cast members, Roland, a beekeeper, and Marianne, a university intellectual with expertise in cosmology. The staccato effect is intriguing at first but can become gimmicky, as one may want to plunge deeper into particular elements. The style is established early on, as the characters face off and repeat the same dialogue with different endings, all the while building toward their ultimate relationship.

Important assists to achieve the overall effect come from the scenic design by Tom Scutt, with a stage full of balloons visible to the audience upon entering the theater, the lighting design by Lee Curran that produces an assortment of luminary highlights, and the sound design by David McSeveney that marks confrontational changes with piercing sonic outbursts.

The production is deftly and crisply directed by Michael Longhurst, but what the playwright provides via dialogue and his total concept, presents a monumental challenge to Gyllenhaal and Wilson. For example, saying the same lines in different contexts demands that they switch convincingly to varied meanings for each set-up.

It is a tribute to both performers that they are able to command steady attention in the large Samuel J. Friedman Theatre as they pass through a wide range of emotions and intimate dialogue. Although the play, 70 minutes long without an intermission, sometimes comes across as overly contrived, the stars establish their own aura as they skillfully interpret the author’s ideas. The play may be the thing, but I would say that the main reason for going to “Constellations” would be to observe Gyllenhaal and Wilson in action together. At the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre, 261 West 47th Street. Phone: 212-239-6200. Reviewed January 16, 2015.

  

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