How Now Brown Cow will present Nick Payne’s Constellations at the Baxter Studio from 2 to 20 June 2026 before heading to Johannesburg for a run at Theatre On The Square from 23 June to 11 July 2026.
Directed by industry luminary and renowned choreographer Jay Pather (The Firebird; Bridling; Hold Still; Siwela Sonke Dance Theatre), Constellations is a spellbinding exploration of love, choices quantum theory, and infinite possibility for heartbreak or for hope. Through a kaleidoscope of moments between two people, it asks what might happen if every version of our lives existed at once – and whether love can endure across them all.
The stellar cast features Mark Elderkin (Speelgoed van Glas/The Glass Menagerie; Amadeus; A Midsummer Night’s Dream) and Mwenya Kabwe (Hold Still; Yellowman; mAnJE! MaNje (an epic)).
The smallest changes in our lives
Marianne, a physicist, and Roland, a beekeeper, meet at a barbeque. They hit it off, and go for a drink. Or perhaps they don’t. They go home together, or maybe they go their separate ways. Perhaps Marianne is engaged to someone else, perhaps Roland is. Maybe she breaks his heart, maybe he breaks hers. Perhaps they come together and their love story can finally take root and grow, or perhaps it will be tragically cut short.
Constellations contemplates how even the smallest change in our lives can dramatically alter the course we take.
“We have all experienced an ‘if only’ moment. What if I had done something differently, said something else? Would it have worked out better?” says director Jay Pather. “Constellations is a remarkable play that evokes this human frailty through compelling text, sometimes hilarious, sometimes heart wrenching that builds steadily with the inevitability of ancient ritual and Greek drama.”
What: Constellations at the Baxter
Where and when:
Cape Town at the Baxter Studio from 2 to 20 June 2026 | Webtickets
Johannesburg at Theatre On The Square from 23 June to 11 July 2026 | Webtickets
WS
