The Barn Theatre stepped boldly into the new year with Florian Zeller’s The Height of the Storm and followed it with Nick Payne’s Constellations.

There are similarities in as much as, in both plays, the concept of time is complex and uncertain, acted out in Constellations as the two characters fall in love in a series of parallel universes.

String theorist, Marianne, tells bemused beekeeper Roland: "Every choice, every decision you’ve ever and never made exists in an unimaginably vast ensemble of parallel universes."

Constellations, first seen at the Royal Court in 2012, is, at its, heart, the existential love story of Marianne and Roland, as their relationship develops across the many possibilities of a multiple universe.

Welwyn Hatfield Times: Kelsey Cooke and Steven Deaville as Marianne and Roland in Constellations at Welwyn Garden City's Barn TheatreKelsey Cooke and Steven Deaville as Marianne and Roland in Constellations at Welwyn Garden City's Barn Theatre (Image: Simon Wallace)

They meet at a barbecue and go back to her place, where he stays the night. They meet at a barbecue, go back to her place and he doesn’t stay the night. They meet at a barbecue and he doesn’t go back to her place.

All of which lead nowhere, or to a long relationship, depending on where we are in the universe.

The result is a series of mostly short scenes in which the two characters repeat snippets of dialogue, with minor variations, until the story veers off into a longer encounter.

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Although Payne’s skill enables him to endow the early scenes with humour, he doesn’t let us lose sight of life’s existential questions through the later, deeply moving scenes.

They’re acted out on a simple set, hung with white balloons, with scene changes stunningly effective, due to the most remarkable lighting and sound plots.

The moments of magic in this production, directed with a beautifully light touch by Coral Walton, come from the extraordinary talents of Kelsey Cooke and Steven Deaville. Reluctant though I am to use a cliché, sometimes you just can’t resist it.

The stars are aligned in this Barn production of Constellations.