Review of Heisenberg: The Uncertainty Principle in the West End

Last night, my Big Sis (aka my close friend) Maria, and I, hit the West End to watch new play, Heisenberg: The Uncertainty Principle, a piece hinged on the element of surprise and a quirky love story which moved us, throughout.

A compelling, unique union between a 75 and 42 year old, both deeply lacking and unlucky in love, this sensual, stirring and ultimately life-affirming play is one to watch.

A packed house, we were lucky to meet the stars of this two-hander: Anna-Marie Duff and Kenneth Cranham, after the show. Anna-Marie’s character of Georgie, is a mother searching for her absent 19 year old son, hyper and needy, and her foil, Alex is a pragmatic butcher with musical prowess and a broken heart. Together, this unlikely match complete one another.

Written by Simon Stephens and directed by Marianne Elliott, whose last collab was on the hit, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, meant our expectations were high, and gladly met.

The title relates to German physicist Werner Heisenberg’s principle coined in 1927: that it’s impossible to measure the position and momentum of a particle simultaneously and precisely. It’s only verbally referenced once in the play but relates to the two love interests whom you would never naturally pair together but who bond over music, sex and eventually love. Their relationship grows slowly over the hour and a half, provides twists and turns and against the bare, neon stage which constricts and compounds them at places of doubt and frustration, leaves no surprise in the end as it’s left wide open, as both character are to each other, at its close.

The leads are both outstanding, refreshing and three dimensional in their roles, and the piece felt cinematic in its attention to detail and reliance on character and the needs of each partner.

I cried at my own pain of loss at one point, but left uplifted and determined to enjoy each day.