Theatre Blogger: HEISENBERG: Show Review by Robin Gorman Newman
For reasons we do not know or witness, Georgie plants a kiss on the back of the neck of a complete, elder stranger at a London train station, and we are swept into their lives and, in particular, the rambling dialogue of Georgie, played by the always charming Mary-Louise Parker, who is totally in her element with this character….and she is a “character.”
Alex, the kiss recipient, is played with sensitivity and grace by Denis Arndt, and he is the perfect unlikely match to her over the top Georgie.
Georgie is an attractive 42 year old free spirit with a 19 year old son who she yearns to reconnect with. Alex is a celibate, butcher shop owner whose business is declining, and at age 75, is not remotely interested in her gregarious, often off-putting, off-color conversation. Georgie runs at the mouth, and listening to her can be both exhausting and exhilarating. Georgie is from New Jersey, and she likes to swear. “I have a complete inability to control my own language,” she says. She introduces herself as an assassin, then advises she’s a waitress at a restaurant where the food “transports me to places I’ve never been to.” She later admits, after tracking Alex down in his shop, that she lied and is really a receptionist at a primary school…”I love it. Making things up,” she states.
Alex is a laid back Brit, and for all his resistance, he is ultimately beguiled by her, and as unexpected as their relationship is, warmth and sincerity emanate, largely due to the skill of these two seasoned actors.
In the world of playwright Simon Stephens, internationally renowned for his Tony and Olivier Award winning The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, characters are often peculiar or eccentric, and they take us on a ride.
Some of the audience are seated on the stage, and the set is very sparse, allowing the focus to be on the nuanced acting and delicacy of the complicated dance of Alex and Georgie, whether verbal sparring, a sexual interlude or the tango, which he is delighted to learn she took up because of him. Parker is a master at flighty, appealing characters, and, she is at the top of her game here. Arndt keeps up valiantly and is the perfect, endearing, straight man to her whimsy.
There are many laughs, and loads of observations and reflections, particularly from Alex, including:
“People worry far too much about what they are, you know. They should be thinking about what they do. “
“Personalities are just the sum of the individual things that people do. And the path that connects between them. They’re never fixed. They can always change. They mean nothing.”
“The older I get I have to say the more aware I am of how very brief everything is. It’s terribly brief, life. It seems a little unfair. I can’t help feeling that I’m only just getting the hang of the bugger.”
Deftly directed by Mark Brokaw, Heisenberg is entertaining and endearing and an intricate character study of seeming opposites and the uncertainty of life, with a nod to the Heisenberg principle. Parker fans will be delighted, and new ones will be born.
The creative team includes Mark Wendland (scenic design), Michael Krass (costume design), Austin R. Smith (lighting design), David Van Tieghem (sound design), Stephen Gabis (dialect consultant) and Sam Pinkleton (choreography).
Heisenberg, 80 minutes, no intermission, is playing at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre.
