Two-person play at Rogue Theater Company is a study in the physics of relationships

“How many Christmases have you got in you? How many more times will you have an Easter egg? How many more times will you hold somebody’s hand for the first time? Or kiss somebody on the lips?”

— Georgie Burns, “Heisenberg”

By Lee Juillerat for Ashland.news

It’s been said that all the world’s a stage. At the Rogue Theater, on a stage no larger than a boxing arena, the world revolves around two divergent characters and how their worlds take on unexpected trajectories in the play, “Heisenberg.”

The two-person play features veteran actor Anthony Heald as Alex Priest, a 75-year-old London butcher, and Amy Lizardo as Georgie Burns, a 42-year-old New Jersey woman who is many things, most of them created through lies and tall tales. As the play takes form, the only thing Georgie and Alex have in common is that they have nothing in common.

The play’s title reflects its curious twists of events. “Heisenberg” refers to Werner Heisenberg, a German theoretical physicist known for his “uncertainty principal.” As explained by play director Michael J. Hume, the principle “states that we cannot know both the Position and Momentum of a particle (such as a photon or an electron) with perfect accuracy. The more we nail down the particle’s position, the less we know about its speed, and vice versa.”

In “Heisenberg,” playwright Simon Stephens uses those uncertainties as the heart of a very heartfelt, endearing play.

Things happen, seemingly totally illogical things, beginning at a London train station where Georgie kisses Alex on the back of his neck. When she apologizes, her persona is quickly revealed — somewhat manic, sometimes tragic, always unbelievable. It’s an uneasy acquaintance. When Georgie is or isn’t being truthful is never clear or, based on the Heisenberg principle, uncertain. She blathers, sometimes forcefully, other times apologetically. Most of the time Alex listens, his body language and facial expressions telling his unspoken thoughts.

But within the swirl of uncertainty in “Heisenberg,” some things are certain, including the amazing quality of acting. Lizardo and Heald create characters who are fascinating and often touching, humorous and outright laugh-inducing. It’s impossible not to give a damn about their right-now experiences and their future. Georgie is bizarre but, in a frightening way, alluring. Alex lives a lonely, reflective life, but reveals some surprises.

It’s no surprise that Heald, who spent 12 years with the Oregon Shakespeare Festival and has performed on Broadway and elsewhere, and Lizardo, a veteran OSF actor, genuinely “live” their characters. Or that Hume, whose extensive credits including acting and directing at OSF, has created a totally convincing tableau within the confines of Grizzly Peak Winery’s indoor theater. The result is an intimate, affecting production that focuses on the actors and the script.

In “Heisenberg” the words and body language dominate. This is a play without distractions. Instead, the emphasis features things like Georgie’s expressive eyes that flash like ever-changing street lights during her twirl-a-whirl spewing of words. And on Alex’s visual musings, controlled impulses, and unpredictable outbursts of affection.

“Heisenberg” is fun, sometimes intentionally confusing, comic, occasionally tear-inducing, always thoughtfully provocative.

During a talkback, Heald told about his desire to perform in “Heisenberg” after seeing it on Broadway in 2014, then doing just that in Pittsburgh in 2018. In comparing the productions, he credited Rogue artistic director Jessica Sage and Hume, noting he wanted to be paired with Lizardo because she is, in his words about her performance, “dangerous.” It’s an apt description. Her Georgie is no fragile waif searching for a sugar-daddy, but a bold, often brazen woman of strength and perplexing contradictions and uncertainty.

The play reveals sometimes painful truths about living, loving and aging.

Near the play’s end, Alex tells Georgie, “People worry too much about what they ‘are,’ you know. They should be thinking about what they do. We could spend some time together for example. We could do that. I do rather like having sex with you. I think that’s terrific and a really unexpected boon at my time of life and I’d definitely be up for doing some more of that. And I’m a big fan of the cuddling and the sleeping and I’m very interested in rubbing your feet while we watch television … I’d very much like to perfect the art of knowing exactly when you want a cup of coffee and making for you without asking. I’d do that. I have no idea how long I’ll be able to do it for. The older I get, I have to say, the more aware I am of how very brief everything is. It’s terribly brief, life. It seems a bit unfair. I can’t help feeling that I’m only just getting the hang of the bugger.”

The Heisenberg theory is based on unpredictability and uncertainty. But “Heisenberg” is most certainly affecting and endearing.

Email freelance writer Lee Juillerat at 337lee337@charter.net.

July 19: Corrected a reference to a character’s name when an actor’s name should have been used.