Tomorrow night, October 16th, Vienna’s Ateliertheater opens its doors to a story that bends time, choice, and the heart itself. Nick Payne’s Constellations — produced by Open House Theatre — brings together Tess Hermann and Pete Steele in an intimate exploration of what it means to love across infinite possibilities.
I was invited to photograph one of the final rehearsals — and found myself watching not just a play, but a constellation of moments: fragments of tenderness, hesitation, laughter, and loss, each orbiting a different version of “what if.”
A Love Story Written in Quantum Language
In Payne’s world, every decision splits reality in two. Constellations follows Marianne, a cosmologist, and Roland, a beekeeper, through a series of short, looping scenes — each one a variation of how they might meet, part, or stay.
Sometimes it’s awkward. Sometimes it’s joyous. Sometimes it’s devastating.
The dialogue repeats, yet every inflection alters the universe. A breath changes fate; a silence becomes a universe of its own.
Inside the Rehearsal Room
Photographing this production, what struck me was its restraint — and how much emotion can live inside stillness.
The set is spare, the space uncluttered, but the actors fill it with shifting realities: a touch, a tilt of the head, a glance that belongs to a different world.
Tess Hermann moves through Marianne’s intellectual curiosity and emotional rawness with lightness, while Pete Steele anchors Roland in quiet gravity — a man of earth and instinct. Together, they draw the audience into a dance between cosmic theory and human intimacy.
Lighting marks each slip in time: one hue for hope, another for heartbreak. Between the scenes, a hush lingers — as if even the air is holding its breath, waiting for the next possibility to unfold.
Why This Play Matters
Payne’s script reminds us that every conversation could have gone another way. In a world that often feels predetermined, Constellations reawakens a sense of wonder about chance — and about how fragile and miraculous connection really is.
The Ateliertheater’s intimate scale amplifies this effect: you don’t just watch the story, you inhabit it.
Performed in English and directed with the lightest of hands, this production lets the text — and the chemistry between Tess and Pete — do the work. The result is luminous, minimal, and expectedly moving.
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More Info
Directed by Robert G. Neumayr
LANGUAGE
English
RUNNING TIME
Approx. 90 minutes without intermission
Where:
Ateliertheater
Burggasse 71
1070 Wien
Presented by the Open House Theatre.
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