Kenneth Cranham and Anne-Marie Duff star in The Uncertainty Principle (Picture: Elliott Harper Productions)

‘This is different to anything in the West End at the moment,’ British actor Kenneth Cranham has said of this weirdly-titled new play, which has been drawing audiences in for being somewhat of an enigma.

Viewers will know Cranham from Hellbound: Hellraiser II, and Valkyrie with Tom Cruise, but here, in this show made by the minds that conceived A Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night Time, the celebrated actor is coupled off with Anne-Marie Duff, who at 42 in the play is 33 years his character’s junior.

It’s life’s surprising relationships, and unusual bonds, which define us, says Heisenberg: The Uncertainty Principle, as Kenneth Cranham’s character discovers.

Kenneth Cranham and Anne-Marie Duff at the press night after party for Heisenberg: The Uncertainty Principle (Picture: Getty Images)

‘Despite this play’s title, it is not about science,’ explains Kenneth. ‘The message is that we only get one chance, and although life can be lonely and brief, with simple acts of kindness we can make ourselves and each other better’.




So no degree in nuclear physics is needed to understand this show, then, which is about how love and loss can be ‘uncertain’.

‘The play is about two people who realise that they have to make the most of their lives. I play a 75-year-old butcher living a solitary and dislocated life who begins a surprising romance with a 42 year old grifter from New Jersey called Georgie, played by the wonderful Anne-Marie Duff.’

The creative team, Marianne Elliott and Chris Harper (Picture: Heisenberg The Uncertainty Principle)

Rather than needing to do your homework first, Heisenberg is ‘a play that makes you think’ afterwards about life’s fragility. ‘My favourite line is “How many more Christmases have you got in you?”‘.

‘It’s like a parable,’ Kenneth explains, and in amongst the uncertainty, music is a key stabiliser. ‘My character listens to everything – from rock and roll and string quartets to heavy metal and grime’.

‘There’s a beautiful line in the play where my character says that music exists between the notes. The soundscape includes music from the acclaimed musician Nils Frahm and Bach.’

Kenneth Cranham in 2017 (Picture: Dan Kennedy)

Many of the same creative team for the West End smash, Curious Incident, have been involved in this production, led by director Marianne Elliott.

‘It’s difficult for me to compare the two productions, but I have heard audiences complement the heart of the play, the design, the music and that it has brought them to tears as well as laughter’.

Cranham’s work has been made easier by his Hollywood starlet co-star Anne-Marie Duff, whom he calls ‘extraordinary, with so many levels to her acting’.

Anne-Marie Duff is ‘extraordinary’, Kenneth thinks (Picture: Getty Images)

For Cranham, Heisenberg has become something of a personal journey too.

‘Anne-Marie and I stand shoulder to shoulder, going to battle together and completely get to know each other. My daughter’s heroine is Anne-Marie Duff. She has just left drama school, so that’s really special for us both. I got to do a two-hander with one of my heroes, when when I was a young actor. It was Colin Blakely in Pinter’s The Dumb Waiter,’ so, this matters.

‘Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle – the actual science thing – is about the way the sun shines, and about the vacuum of space, but in context of this play, it’s just a big parable for a story about ‘human beings, how we live in uncertain times, and sometimes find that difficult to cope with’.



The play isn’t directly politically charged, but Cranham says it responds to how ‘we think we can control everything’.

‘This play is a celebration of uncertainty and seeing what might happen if we let go.’

Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle runs until January 6 at the Wyndham’s Theatre.

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