THEATRE REVIEW: Heinsberg: The Uncertainty Principle ★★★★

Heisenberg: The Uncertainty Principle
Wyndham's Theatre, London
Saturday 14th October 2017

Alex Priest is a butcher, who every day makes just over an hour's journey to and from his workplace, stopping off everyday for a rest at St Pancras Station. This has been his life for nearly two decades, but on one morning on his way to work he receives a kiss on the back of his neck, and from that moment on, everything changes for him. From the creative team behind The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime, Simon Stephens brings Heisenberg, a beautifully written piece of theatre that centres around the lives of Georgie Burns (Anne-Marie Duff) and Alex Priest (Kenneth Cranham).

The Uncertainty Principle was introduced in 1927 by Werner Heinsberg, and centres around how, in what is so excellently conceived in the play by Burns, 'if you watch something closely enough you realise you have no possible way of telling where it's going or how fast it's getting there.’ The chance meeting between our two protagonists is so convincing and speaks truth to the quote because Duff and Cranham are so truthfully to their characters. 

I really loved Anne-Marie Duff's portrayal of Georgie Burns especially; throughout the play you realise just how unpredictable this character is, from lying about her job initially to a moment in the play which in some real life situations could set the other person in your life quite far back in a certain factor.

Does Cranham really give a decent performance of someone who is meant to love Tango? No, but the way that both actors own the stage, which is forever moving dimensionally with such ease by designer Bunny Christie's incredible vision, that this becomes a little snag in what is otherwise a stunning performance which you constantly feel in awe of. The writing from Stephens is brought to life with vivid imagination against what is a very bland set, all in white bar coloured technical backdrops.

If there was another thing that for me didn't sit well throughout this performance, it would be the scene changes which involved a lot of dragged out movements from the two performers. It felt to me to be very erratic at times, almost stiffened, which of course has been directed for a specific reason, but for me in this instance I found myself waiting for what seemed minutes for the action to come to life on stage again.

Overall, Heinsberg: The Uncertainty Principle is a beautiful tale of two people who no matter how hard try to fight against the feeling of love, always fall back in touch with each other through what can only be described as destiny.