About the Play:

Heisenberg is a full-length drama by Simon Stephens. In this uncertain world, who can predict what brings people together? Amidst the bustle of a crowded London train station, a 40-something American woman spots a retirement-age man, and plants a kiss on his neck. This electric encounter thrusts two perfect strangers into a fascinating and life-changing game. But is she really all she seems?

Heisenberg a funny, tender, and quirky love story that celebrates human relationships in all their complexity. The title of the play is taken from the "Uncertainty Principle" of Nobel Prize-winning physicist Werner Heisenberg. As applied by the playwright, it refers to the vast number of outcomes a new relationship can have. (If you've ever seen the Michael Frayn play Copenhagen you may remember Werner Heisenberg as the German scientist who visits his mentor Niels Bohr in the then German-occupied Danish capital to discuss the Nazi nuclear program.) Taking this theory to a human scale, the play starts with a serendipitous encounter at a London train station that propels two very different people into a shared orbit. Georgie, a 42-year-old American, is free-spirited and impulsive. On a whim, she kisses the neck of Alex, a much older and more subdued man who is sitting by himself. What transpires from this impulsive gesture is the basis of the play, as Georgie tries to explain her actions, he is suspicious. Although the two seem mismatched, an electricity develops between them. Is she honestly attracted to him or is there a longer con game in the cards? In the unexpected conversations that follow, Georgie and Alex discover shared passions amidst the uncertainty of personal connection. This life-affirming play uncovers the extraordinary in the everyday and brings to life the uncertain and often comical sparring match that is the human connection

Heisenberg received its world premiere in 2015 off-Broadway at the Manhattan Theatre Club in New York City. Following a sold-outrun, it transferred to Broadway in 2016 at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre. Heisenberg: The Uncertainty Principle had its UK premiere at Wyndham's Theatre in London's West End. Since then the play had regional premieres at professional theatres across the US and has been mounted by colleges, and community theatres.

Cast: 1 female, 1 male

What people say:

"On its surface, [Heisenberg] is a satisfyingly sentimental, life-affirming mating dance between two people who are so utterly dissimilar that of course they are made for each other. But if you choose to tune into the quieter frequencies, you'll detect the presence of a probing work that considers the multiplicity of alternatives that could shape our lives at every moment." — The New York Times

"Stephens' great interest…is how our perception of people and relationships alters depending on what we know, what we see and whose side we see it from. Seemingly senseless actions that seem inexplicable reveal reasonable motives; solid facts dissipate and disappear. [Heisenberg] rewards watching, both where it is and where it's going." — The Guardian

"[Simon Stephens] tells the simple story of two perfect strangers who embark on an affair and find their lives changes irrevocably. You've seen this one before, you say? Not like this one, you haven't…Georgie is a marvelous creation: a wide-eyed, brutally honest id…and Stephens [gives] full commitment to these lost souls through his tough, bracing writing style." — Entertainment Weekly

"Simon Stephens' play...is as sumptuous an experience as theater gets." — ABC News

"Heisenberg is a quirky comedy-drama that manages to live up to both adjectives." — Hollywood Reporter

"Stephens's carefully crafted 75-minute play has a sense of how little its characters matter to the universe. It makes that smallness feel liberating." — Time Out New York

About the Author:

Simon Stephens is an Olivier Award-winning English playwright. He has written many plays that have been translated into more than 30 languages and produced all over the world. He is a professor of playwriting at Manchester Metropolitan University, an associate playwright at the Royal Court Theatre, the artistic associate at the Lyric Hammersmith in London, and the Steep Associate Playwright at Steep Theatre in Chicago.