Review: Heisenberg, Arcola

What does it mean to be lonely? Is it a quiet resignation to life’s plodding pace? Or is it a feeling that there’s something else out there if you can be brave enough to look? That’s the question Simon Stephens invites us to wrestle with in Heisenberg, reimagined in this intimate queer production directed by Katharine Farmer. With just two chairs, a coat hook, and a sense of transience conjured by rope lights acting as passing trains and echoing station announcements, the play unfolds like a series of encounters suspended in time.

Seventy-five-year-old Alex (Jenny Galloway) sits quietly on a station bench as Stevie Nicks’ ‘Edge of Seventeen’ blasts out. Suddenly, a younger woman, Georgie (Faline England), rushes in and kisses her on the neck. It’s a jarring, ambiguous moment – provocative without context – and the play offers little in the way of justification. What follows is a thrillingly awkward exchange, with Georgie firing off unhinged, erratic questions about everything from disposable cameras to her dead partner. Alex’s responses are dry, guarded, and quietly hilarious: “I like waitresses. Well, not all of them – that would be absurd to make a blanket generalisation.”,

Yet from the start, the characters feel oddly mismatched, not just in age, but in texture. Alex is believable, grounded, and emotionally legible. Georgie, by contrast, often comes across as a caricature: performative, overly chaotic, like a drama student who’s always on. At times it feels as if both characters are underwritten – Alex constrained, Georgie overblown. When Georgie follows Alex to her butcher’s shop, their dialogue feels contrived, and their chemistry strained.

And still, there are moments of grace and affection. Galloway and England work hard to carve out humanity from the script’s jagged edges. Their physical connection is warm and unshowy, and when the pair sleep together, the intimacy feels unforced. One of the most affecting moments comes when Alex is alone, grounding herself against the wall. It’s then the play finds its strength – not in grand declarations, but in silence and stillness. 

That said, some production choices disrupt rather than enhance. Scene transitions, particularly one that drags as the actors put on their socks and shoes to ‘Seventeen’ by Sharon Van Etten, break the rhythm and feel unnecessarily prolonged. The music throughout is hit-and-miss, at times underscoring mood, at others clashing with it.

Ultimately, it’s the quiet ache of being alone – and what we do to escape it – that lingers. Alex’s eventual outburst, triggered by Georgie’s ulterior motive, is striking in its emotional weight, and Galloway delivers it with exquisite restraint. It’s the first time her character has a major emotional shift. The final scenes don’t offer easy answers, but they leave us wondering: if connection is fleeting and flawed, is it still worth chasing?

Farmer’s reimagining adds a fresh queer perspective to the script, but it’s the strength of the performances that gives Heisenberg its emotional core. Stephens is keen to remind us that it’s a lonely old world. The lingering question is whether that loneliness is something to fear, or something we learn to live beside.

Written by Simon Stephens
Director: Katharine Farmer
Choreographer: Anna Alvarez
Sound Designer: Hugh Sheehan
Lighting Designer: Rajiv Pattani
Costume Supervisor: Beth Qualter Buncall

Heisenberg runs at the Arcola Theatre until Saturday 10 May.