Heisenberg – Arcola Theatre, London

The meeting of two women in a London train station has all the energy and mystery of quantum physics in this queer reworking of Simon Stephens’ Heisenberg.

Heisenberg

Formulated by the German physicist and Nobel laureate Werner Heisenberg in 1927, the uncertainty principle states that we cannot know both the position and speed of a particle, such as a photon or electron, with perfect accuracy; the more we nail down the particle’s position, the less we know about its speed and vice versa.

https://scienceexchange.caltech.edu/topics/quantum-science-explained/uncertainty-principle

Physics.  A surprisingly common source of inspiration in theatre.  See, for instance, the ever-popular Constellations by Nick Payne.  And today we have another revival before us, this time of Heisenberg by Simon Stephens.  First staged in 2015, it is the story of a romance between one person in their 40s and another in their 70s, instigated by an impulsive kiss in a London train station.  Previous productions have played the characters as a woman and a man (I’m not sure if it’s explicitly established as such in the text, I haven’t read it, but Georgie and Alex are nonetheless ambiguous names).  The production on now at the Arcola Theatre queers the play, casting instead two women.  Jenny Galloway plays the older woman, Alex, and Faline England the younger, Georgie.

What about this uncertainty principle, then?  I found it to be a way to lend weight to what is otherwise a fairly lean premise.  Lean but compelling, and somehow rather charming.  The play consists of a handful of scenes set over a number of weeks, as Alex and Georgie get to know each other.  They are very different.  Georgie is, as already established, impulsive.  Her relationship with the truth is tenuous at best.  But she is so passionate, so unguarded in the quiet moments, that it’s ultimately endearing.  Alex has never had her routine disturbed like this.  She’s happy in her small orbit: working in her shop, going for walks, listening to music.  Galloway’s wry delivery is charming: we get a picture of an unassuming yet quietly confident introvert who is unaccustomed to participating rather than observing.

So is it Alex who is the observer of particles, and Georgie the particle whose location and direction cannot both be fixed at once?  Perhaps.  But for my money I think it’s both characters.  In different ways, each holds back.  Genuine connection seems to be about letting go of predicting the future, or the direction of travel, and being in the moment.

Design Elements in Harmony

In common with past productions of Heisenberg (or so I read), the set is extremely spare.  Just two chairs and a couple of other indications of place.  Both the sound design (Hugh Sheehan) and lighting design (Rajiv Pattani)  are excellent.  I liked the swirling neon reminiscent of Tracey Emin’s I Want My Time With You at King’s Cross Station. The way Pattani achieves the effect of a passing train or an early morning is impressive to see.  Sheehan’s sound design transports us to cafes, train stations and a schoolyard.  These three design elements work in perfect harmony: the set can be as minimalist as it is (it’s actually uncredited in the production’s freesheet) because the sound and lighting fill the gaps and ignite our imagination.

I also thought the performances and direction wonderful.  Alex, at one stage, makes a comment about music being the spaces between notes, not the notes themselves.  Likewise director Katharine Farmer allows the spaces between lines to draw out.  In a play where the characters are ambiguous and the audience is constantly making their minds up about them, these periods of stillness are something lovely.  And the characters did grow on me: that uncertainty never quite resolves (per the principle), but both actors tap into a vulnerability and sense of fragile connection that found me letting my guard down, too.

I did find myself reflecting throughout on the importance (or otherwise) of queering this text.  That this May/December romance is between two women does add new angles to the characters, I think.  Perhaps an additional wall to break through for Alex to embark on such a relationship.  An additional impetuousity for Georgie and her flimsy excuse for kissing Alex’s neck in the first place.  The beauty of Heisenberg is that not everything is resolved.  We remain in that slight uncertainty until the last.

Salterton Arts Review’s rating: 4/5

Heisenberg on until 10 May 2025.  More info and tickets here.