CONSTELLATIONS, at the Geffen Playhouse, belies the writers’ workshop trope “Show, don’t tell.” Through an intoxicating swirl of dialogs—stopping, starting, switching, alternating, repeating—we learn how Marianne (a quantum physicist) and Roland (a beekeeper) meet, fall in love (or don’t), and stay together or break up (do they?) As Marianne reassures Roland early on, “Everything we’ve ever, and never, done” already exists in a vast network of “multiverses.” About halfway through the 80-minute play, one wonders if these cosmic auditions may just be Marianne’s daydreams, or Roland’s fears. Are these the tapes we replay, where we say what we wish we had said? Our recriminations, and our lies?

In early 2015, Ruth Wilson and Jake Gyllenhaal made their Broadway debuts in the play. Two years later, Marianne and Roland are beautifully portrayed by Ginnifer Goodwin and Allen Leech, in whose presence the 80 minutes of CONSTELLATIONS—written by Nick Payne and directed by Giovanna Sardelli—fly by much too quickly.

CONSTELLATIONS, through July 16.

GEFFEN PLAYHOUSE, 10886 Le Conte Avenue, Westwood, Los Angeles.

geffenplayhouse.org/constellations

Allen Leech and Ginnifer Goodwin in Constellations, by Nick Payne, 2017.
Photograph by Chris Whitaker