Constellations Read online

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  For Minna

  Dedicated to Dad

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  Chris Campbell, Jim Carnahan, Dominic Cooke, Lucy Cullingford, Lee Curran, Lucy Davies, Vicky Featherstone, Simon Godwin, Jake Gyllenhaal, Daisy Haggard, Sally Hawkins, Kate Horton, Mike Longhurst, Annie MacRae, David McSeveny, Lynne Meadow, Tom Scutt, Simon Slater, Rafe Spall, Vanessa Stone, Catherine Thornborrow, Evanna White, Ruth Wilson, all of the staff at Manhattan Theatre Club and all of the staff at the Royal Court Theatre.

  Professor John D. Barrow, Steve Benbow, Cancer Research UK’s Information Nurses, Professor Mike Duff, Dr John Gribbin, Professor Andrew Liddle, Silvan Luley and Ludwig A. Minelli (Dignitas), Duncan Macmillan, Dave Moore, Dr Kathy Romer and Charlie Swinbourne.

  Ben Hall and Lily Williams at Curtis Brown.

  Mum.

  I would like to acknowledge the following books and their authors: On Being by Peter Atkins, The End of Time by Julian Barbour, The Book of Universes by John D. Barrow, From Eternity to Here by Sean Carroll, Beekeeping by Andrew Davies, Sum by David Eagleman, The Immortalization Commission by John Gray, The Elegant Universe and The Hidden Reality by Brian Greene, In Search of the Multiverse by John Gribbin, The Memory Chalet by Tony Judt, The Oxford Companion to Cosmology by Andrew Liddle and John Loveday, Quantum Theory: A Very Short Introduction by John Polkinghorne and The Trouble with Physics by Lee Smolin.

  Lastly, I would like to acknowledge ‘A Memoir of Living with a Brain Tumour’ by Tom Lubbock, originally published in The Observer, November 2010.

  CONTENTS

  Title Page

  Copyright Notice

  Dedication

  Acknowledgements

  Epigraphs

  Begin Reading

  Also by Nick Payne

  About the Author

  Copyright

  Constellations had its world premiere at the Royal Court Jerwood Theatre Upstairs, Sloane Square, London, on January 13, 2011.

  MARIANNE Sally Hawkins

  ROLAND Rafe Spall

  DIRECTOR Michael Longhurst

  DESIGNER Tom Scutt

  LIGHTING DESIGNER Lee Curran

  COMPOSER Simon Slater

  SOUND DESIGNER David McSeveney

  CASTING DIRECTOR Amy Ball

  ASSISTANT DIRECTOR Sam Caird

  PRODUCTION MANAGER Tariq Rifaat

  BSLBT CONSULTANT Daryl Jackson

  STAGE MANAGERS Rhiannon Harper, Bryan Paterson

  STAGE MANAGEMENT WORK PLACEMENT Amy Burkett

  COSTUME SUPERVISOR Iona Kenrick

  The American premiere of Constellations was produced by the Manhattan Theatre Club (Lynne Meadow, Artistic Director; Barry Grove, Executive Producer) and the Royal Court Theatre, by special arrangement with Ambassador Theatre Group and the Dodgers, at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre. The first performance was on December 16, 2014.

  MARIANNE Ruth Wilson

  ROLAND Jake Gyllenhaal

  DIRECTOR Michael Longhurst

  SCENIC AND COSTUME DESIGNER Tom Scutt

  LIGHTING DESIGNER Lee Curran

  SOUND DESIGNER David McSeveney

  MOVEMENT DIRECTOR Lucy Cullingford

  ORIGINAL MUSIC Simon Slater

  CASTING Jim Carnahan and Nancy Piccione

  STAGE MANAGER Peter Wolf

  CHARACTERS

  Marianne

  Roland

  The reductionist worldview is chilling and impersonal. It has to be accepted as it is, not because we like it, but because that is the way the world works.

  Steven Weinberg in Brian Greene, The Elegant Universe

  Science continues to be a channel for magic – the belief that for the human will, empowered by knowledge, nothing is impossible. This confusion of science with magic is not an ailment of a kind that has a remedy. It goes with modern life. Death is a provocation to this way of living, because it marks a boundary beyond which the will cannot go.

  John Gray, The Immortalization Commission

  Why should the universe have a purpose? The question of the purpose of the universe is an invention of human minds, and has no significance, except for the way that it illuminates the psychology of scholarly pursuit and of the pursuing scholars themselves. We should not impose human-inspired attitudes and questions on material things. There is a considerable grandeur, I think, in the presence of our spectacularly majestic universe just hanging there, wholly without purpose.

  Peter Atkins, On Being

  An indented rule indicates a change in universe.

  Marianne Do you know why it’s impossible to lick the tips of your elbows? They hold the secret to immortality, so if you could lick them, there’s a chance you’d be able to live forever. But if everyone did it, if everyone could actually lick the tips of their elbows, then there’d be chaos. Because you can’t just go on living and living and living.

  Roland I’m. I’m in a relationship. So. Yeah.

  * * *

  Marianne Do you know why it’s impossible to lick the tips of your elbows? They hold the secret to immortality, so if you could lick them, there’s a chance you’d be able to live forever. But if everyone did it, if everyone could actually lick the tips of their elbows, then there’d be chaos. Because you can’t just go on living and living and living.

  Roland I’ve. I’ve just come out of a really serious relationship. So. Yeah.

  Marianne I was just making conversation.

  Roland Sure.

  Marianne Just trying to start a conversation.

  Roland No, sure. But. Still.

  * * *

  Marianne Do you know why it’s impossible to lick the tips of your elbows? They hold the secret to immortality, so if you could lick them, there’s a chance you’d be able to live forever. But if everyone did it, if everyone could actually lick the tips of their elbows, then there’d be chaos. Because you can’t just go on living and living and living.

  Roland Oh right.

  Marianne Try it.

  Roland What’s that?

  Marianne Your elbows, try licking them.

  Roland I’m all right.

  Marianne attempts to lick her elbows, demonstrating the difficulty.

  Marianne I’m Marianne.

  Roland Roland.

  Marianne Thank God the rain’s held off.

  Roland Yeah.

  Marianne Nothing worse than a soggy barbecue.

  Roland Yeah.

  Marianne Soggy sausages. Would you like a drink?

  Roland I’m all right. My wife’s actually just gone to get me a beer.

  * * *

  Marianne Try it.

  Roland What’s that?

  Marianne Your elbows, try licking them.

  Marianne attempts to lick her elbows, demonstrating the difficulty. Roland, initially hesitant, also attempts to lick his elbows.

  Roland See what you mean. I’m Roland.

  Marianne Marianne.

  Roland Shame about the rain.

  Marianne Nothing worse than a soggy barbecue.

  Roland So are you, are you a friend of Jane’s or –

  Marianne No, Jane, yeah. We were at college together.

  Roland Right.

  Marianne Yourself?

  Roland My wife used to work with Jane.

  * * *

  Marianne Your elbows, try licking them.

  Marianne attempts to lick her elbows, demonstrating the difficulty. Roland, initially hesitant, also attempts t
o lick his elbows.

  Roland See what you mean. I’m Roland.

  Marianne Marianne.

  Roland Shame about the rain.

  Marianne Nothing worse than a soggy barbecue.

  Roland So are you, are you a friend of Jane’s or…?

  Marianne Who’s Jane?

  Roland Jane’s the – She’s the lady having the barbecue?

  Marianne Oh, right, Christ, no. I was just walking past and I saw a load of free booze and sausages. I’m joking.

  Roland Right.

  Marianne Jane and I were at college together. How about you?

  Roland I play football with Tom.

  Marianne Tom?

  Roland Jane’s brother-in-law. Bluey-green T-shirt.

  Marianne Yes.

  Roland D’you want a drink?

  Marianne I’m fine. Thanks.

  Roland So what do you, what do you do? For a living.

  Marianne I work at Sussex University.

  Roland Right. Great.

  Marianne Yourself?

  Roland I’m a beekeeper.

  Marianne Really?

  Roland Yeah, yeah.

  Marianne You’re really a beekeeper?

  Roland I’m really a beekeeper.

  Marianne I fucking love honey.

  Roland Oh really?

  Marianne Spoon. Jar of honey. Heaven.

  Roland What sort of honey do you normally go for?

  Marianne I’m too embarrassed.

  Roland How d’you mean?

  Marianne Too embarrassed to tell you.

  Roland Why’s that?

  Marianne whispers the following into Roland’s ear: ‘I like Tesco. The really dirty stuff, the prison stripe stuff.’

  Roland That’s all right.

  Marianne Really?

  Roland Of course.

  Marianne I’m not putting honest, hard-working beekeepers out of business?

  Roland Wouldn’t’ve thought so.

  Marianne Do you think I’m a honey philistine?

  Roland Some of the supermarket stuff’s all right.

  Marianne Really?

  Roland Yeah, some of it’s fine, yeah.

  Marianne So – And I mean don’t take this the wrong way, but, I mean, are you –

  Roland Go on.

  Marianne You – I mean do you make a living?

  Roland I do, yeah.

  Marianne I mean from beekeeping.

  Roland From beekeeping.

  Marianne How does it – I mean how does it –

  Roland Well. I used to, I used to work for a friend of mine. In Wiltshire.

  Marianne Very nice.

  Roland After a while though, decided I wanted to go into business on my own. But my, my girlfriend – ex-girlfriend –

  Marianne I’m sorry for your loss.

  Roland What’s that?

  Marianne No – I was – I was making a –

  Roland Right.

  Marianne Sorry for your loss as in –

  Gestures, sliding a finger across her throat, ‘killed’.

  Roland Right.

  Marianne It was just a –

  Roland No.

  Marianne Anyway, you were –

  Roland Yeah, no, so, she, my ex, she wanted to move to London. So we got this one-bed place in Tower Hamlets.

  Marianne No wonder you broke up with her, fuck me. I’d’ve broken up with her if she’d made me leave Wiltshire for fucking Tower Hamlets.

  Roland I’m still living there, actually.

  Marianne Lovely curries.

  Roland There wasn’t any room. For bees.

  Marianne I see.

  Roland We didn’t have a garden.

  Marianne Bummer.

  Roland One day I was up on the roof and I realised it was perfect. So I tidied it up a bit and I got my first hive.

  Marianne Amazing.

  Roland Went from one to two from two to four. We, we went away. Me and Laura. We went away to Spain and when we got back, we found that the flat had been raided.

  Marianne Raided?

  Roland I used to keep the honey in bin bags. You know those black, plastic bin liners –

  Marianne Yes.

  Roland Didn’t have a lotta money, at the time, so the bin bags were just a cheap alternative. When we were away though, one of the neighbours called the police. Thought I was brewing up smack or something. They properly went for it. The police. They kicked the front door in, turned the flat upside down and they confiscated all these bin bags filled with the most amazing honey and honeycomb.

  Marianne Did that really happen?

  Roland Yeah.

  Marianne You used to keep honey in bin bags?

  Roland Yeah.

  * * *

  Marianne Roland, I don’t think that I can go back to work.

  Roland Have they told you that?

  Marianne They’re great.

  Roland You’ve told them then?

  Marianne Not yet.

  Roland But you’re going to.

  Marianne I think so.

  Roland But you haven’t said any of this to them?

  Marianne They’ve said whatever I want.

  Roland So what about part-time?

  Marianne I don’t know the point.

  Roland You mean the point of going part-time?

  Marianne Either I’m walking or I’m

  Either I’m walker

  I either do it or I don’t. Scares me.

  Roland Work?

  Marianne Stopping.

  Roland Stopping work scares you?

  Marianne What will I do?

  Roland We’ll go away. We can do whatever we want.

  Marianne I don’t –

  Roland I’m being serious.

  Marianne I don’t –

  Roland I mean it.

  Marianne I I don’t

  We can’t. I have to have to make a

  I have to have a choice.

  Control.

  * * *

  Roland You want me to leave?

  Marianne Not in a bad way, but yeah.

  Roland Have I done something wrong?

  Marianne No.

  Roland Have I said something, have I offended you?

  Marianne No.

  Roland I thought we’d had a nice evening?

  Marianne We did.

  Roland Coming back here was your suggestion?

  Marianne I know, but, on reflection –

  Roland Do you wanna come inside, you said.

  Marianne I know I know, but now I’ve changed my mind. I’m allowed to change my mind, aren’t I?

  Roland If I’m allowed to ask why, sure.

  Marianne I just – I’d just rather not get into it.

  Roland Can you at least tell me if it’s me?

  Marianne I just –

  Roland I’m not saying specifically – Generally – Generally speaking –

  Marianne I’m just going through some things. At the moment. And you’re right, we’ve had a lovely evening and you’re right it was my idea to come back here, but, I just, as soon as we stepped inside, I started thinking – I mean I just started thinking –

  * * *

  Roland You want me to leave?

  Marianne Not in a bad way, but yeah.

  Roland Have I done something wrong?

  Marianne No.

  Roland Have I said something, have I offended you?

  Marianne No.

  Roland Then I don’t understand?

  Marianne I’m not asking you to understand, I’m asking you to leave.

  Roland Bit fucking rich, isn’t it?

  Marianne I’m sorry?

  Roland This was your idea.

  Marianne Charming.

  Roland I’m just saying.

  Marianne Okay –

  Roland It’s rude.

  Marianne Yeah I’d like you to leave now.

  * * *

  Roland I should probably make a move.

  Marianne You
don’t – I mean don’t feel you have to.

  Roland I’ve got a really early start.

  Marianne How early’s early?

  Roland Six.

  Marianne You could – I mean you could – Not in a like ‘welcome to my lair’ way or anything, but – If you wanted, you could. Stay.

  Roland I should probably head back.

  Marianne Well, look, I mean – Thanks for a really lovely evening.

  Roland Likewise, yeah.

  Marianne We should – I mean whenever you’re free, we should think about –

  Roland Definitely, yeah.

  Marianne The ‘lair’ thing was just a joke by the way.

  Roland Come again?

  Marianne Sofa just folds out. You wouldn’t have to stay in my bed. Stop talking, Marianne.

  Roland gently kisses Marianne ‘goodbye’ on the cheek.

  * * *

  Marianne Not in a bad way, but yeah.

  Roland Have I done something wrong?

  Marianne No.

  Roland Have I said something –

  Marianne No.

  Roland I thought we’d had a nice evening?

  Marianne We did.

  Roland Coming back here was your suggestion?

  Marianne No, I know, but, on reflection –

  Roland Do you wanna come inside, you said.

  Marianne I know, but now I’ve changed my mind. I’m allowed to change my mind, aren’t I? I just – I’d just rather not get into it.

  Roland I went on another date a couple of weeks ago. Almost exactly the same thing happened. So I’m more than happy to leave you to it, but if it is me –

  Marianne It’s not.

  Roland I’m not saying you have to be specific –

  Marianne It’s not you.

  Roland If you had some feedback –

  Marianne Feedback?

  Roland ‘ Feedback’’s not right, but –

  Marianne Okay, look, I just. I’m just going through some things. At the moment. My, my mother. She’s been ill for a really long time. And. I can’t tell whether I want you to stay because I want you to stay or whether I just don’t want to go to sleep on my own.

  Beat.

  Roland I’m really sorry.

  Marianne Why don’t we just speak in a week or so?

  * * *

  Marianne and Roland are a little drunk.

  Roland Friend of mine said to me when I told him that I was going on a date, he said, ‘What does she do?’ –

  Marianne And what did you say?