In ‘Constellations’, there’s a reality where you’re not quite this bitter

The set, the music, and the lights quickly set the mood for Red Turnip Theater's "Constellations." The stage, just a carpeted, elevated platform surrounded by translucent strings that never touch, makes room for the story—or stories—about to be told.

Written by Nick Payne, "Constellations" takes a sample from the infinite number of possible stories that begin at a barbecue, where Marianne (Cris Villonco) and Roland (JC Santos) engage in small talk. The scene is repeated again and again, and the audience is left to muse two things.

First, that a great number of things have to align for romance to start. Second, that Villonco and Santos are pretty good actors. The shift from flirty to flighty in the many iterations of the moment looks exhausting.

Surely, it must be confusing to perform a play where you have to say your lines five times in succession with different feelings. And to trust the audience to follow the sequence as it jumps back, changes completely, jumps back seven more times, before moving forward in another direction...then back? Red Turnip Theater has high regard for its audience—take it as a compliment.

The play attempts to flesh out the idea of a multiverse and Villonco's enthusiasm to explain it within the play is a reminder that exposition is a literary device that can be used for good. The script has enough fixed points for the audience to rest on as the romance unfolds, fizzles, starts, ends, implodes, soars, and fails.

We meet the leads at the fateful barbecue. It goes wrong, then it goes right, and wrong again—moving from "Bakit Ngayon Ka Lang?" to "God Gave Me You" to "All The Single Ladies" to "Crazy in Love."

We see them after a date. Marianne invites Roland. She changes his mind. He declines. She sets up the coach for him. He gets furious. She says she's not ready for anything. He tells her he's not ready for something to serious. She tries to ask again.

We watch Roland propose. Sometimes it goes well. Sometimes it doesn't.

Sometimes you just meet someone a little too early or too late and that's where the story ends. Sometimes diseases robs you of more time together. On both occasions, everything seems to be at the whim of the universe.

But our words, our thoughts—these are malleable. In an argument, we could want to keep going with our pride or choose to move forward. We ultimately choose whether our story is heavy drama, slapstick comedy, high-art indie, low-budget horror, or...uh, investigative documentary?

The play, in presenting how both choice and circumstance affect a single instance, illustrates how our lives—not just our relationships—are shaped by our own decisions. — BM, GMA News

Constellations" runs until March 6 at the Power Mac Center Spotlight Theater in Circuit Makati, A.P. Reyes Ave., Makati City. Tickets are available at TicketWorld.