Santa Rosa’s Left Edge Theatre kicks off the New Year with Simon Stephens’s Heisenberg. The two-character dramedy about a May – December romance runs through Feb. 2.

The title does not refer to either character, but to German physicist Werner Heisenberg. The Nobel Prize winner is best known for his 1927 uncertainty principle that, in its simplest definition, states that there’s a limit to what you can know with certainty about one thing at any one time.

What’s that got to do with a 42-year-old American single mother and a 75-year-old Irish butcher? Everything.

Shannon Rider, John Craven

Alex Priest (John Craven) is sitting in a London railway station minding his own business when Georgie Burns (Shannon Rider) approaches him from behind and kisses him on the neck. She quickly apologizes to Alex and explains that he reminded her of someone she recently lost. The uber-extroverted Georgie then initiates a lengthy one-sided conversation in which she repeatedly contradicts herself. The ultra-introverted Alex finds himself caught like a deer in headlights, eventually sputtering “Why are you talking to me?”

It’s not giving too much away to say that these two disparate characters will end up together, but credit playwright Stephens (The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time) for never giving us any sense of certainty about their long-term prospects. Motormouth Georgie makes us wonder if the two have any prospects at all with her repeated verbal barrages of inconsistencies and outright lies about who she is, but Alex’s interest in Georgie is piqued, as is the audience’s for the show’s 85 intermissionless minutes.

The great leveler between these two is loneliness, and nobody plays a world-weary soul better in these parts than John Craven. Rider’s challenge is to bring vulnerability to a character who comes on like a runaway train. She succeeds in letting us see what Alex sees. They venture into an uncertain future together, each on their own terms.

The Carla Spindt-directed performances are complimented with some strong technical work. Lighting by April George, projections by Chris Schloemp, and sound by Joe Winkler allow Argo Thompson’s minimalist set to easily transform from a train station to a butcher shop to a bedroom to Hackensack, NJ.

At one point in the show Georgie asks Alex “Do you find me exhausting, yet captivating?” The same question could be asked of this show, and the answer would be a resounding “yes”.

Rating (out of 5): ★★★★

‘Heisenberg’ runs through Feb. 2 at Left Edge Theatre. 50 Mark West Springs Road, Santa Rosa. Thu – Sat, 8pm; Sun., 2pm. $15–$42. 707.546.3600. leftedgetheatre.com

Photos by Katie Kelley

This review originally appeared in an edited version in the North Bay Bohemian.