Los Angeles Times - Recommended
"...The originality in Stephens' play lies in the beautifully observed portrayal of a man who has arrived at a kind of Heisenberg-ian wisdom through a combination of tragic disappointments, solitary contemplation and a love of the world that has intensified as he has come to accept his own ephemerality in it. What does Alex want? He's lived long enough and pondered deeply enough to appreciate the mysterious unpredictability of the ride."
LA Weekly - Somewhat Recommended
"...By design, Heisenberg is a talky piece, which makes it all the more important for its characters to be engaging enough to watch and to listen to. Arndt makes the most of what the playwright has given him, and his taciturn Alex deepens and enriches as we get to know him. But Parker's detached posturing (reminiscent of her portrayal of Nancy on Weeds), in tandem with the odd, bleating way she delivers many of her lines, is counter-effective and makes you not care a hoot about her. Where was the director in this? His lack of oversight, if that's what you kindly want to call it, delivers a piece that's an 80-minute slog."
Edge - Recommended
"...But, if they get that aural glitch fixed, you can feast on two fine actors making the improbable real. And it is terrific to see actors with such enormous stage and film credits make subtle work of their roles. Arndt, especially, takes his Irish-born butcher character to a realistic height. Parker, too, makes what is initially a disturbing onslaught of one person pursuing another, also real. And charming. As is the play."
The Hollywood Reporter - Highly Recommended
"...Under the pitch-perfect direction of Mark Brokaw, who also guided Parker in her acclaimed turn in How I Learned to Drive, the two performers deliver deeply moving portrayals of these troubled figures, who despite all odds manage to find happiness together. You won't believe a minute of what goes on in Heisenberg, but you'll probably leave the theater with a goofy grin on your face nonetheless."
LA Splash - Recommended
"...If you're wondering about the name of this play, or even not, then physicist Werner Heisenberg's uncertainty principle may just apply. His theory suggests that "the fundamental limit to how well one can simultaneously know the position and momentum of a particle" doesn't fit into this piece at all - or does it? What exactly is it that draws particles - or people - together, and how fast or slow does that attraction proceed? Or perhaps are those questions by their very nature unknowable? Playwright Simon Stephens has taken this heady material and woven it into everyday, commonplace events and people."
Stage Scene LA - Highly Recommended
"...Tony-nominated Denis Arndt and his Broadway leading lady Mary-Louise Parker light up the Mark Taper Forum stage as mismatched misfits made for each other in the Manhattan Theatre Club production of Simon Stephens' Heisenberg, an East-to-West Coast transfer that allows Angelinos to experience the same theatrical alchemy that only months ago filled seats on New York's Great White Way."
VC Star - Recommended
"...Scenes change abruptly with a stop-action flash of light, but it takes an effort to quickly grasp what the rearrangement of long tables and a pair of chairs indicates about each setting. It helps to know in advance that Georgie is an American living for some reason in London and Alex is a native Irishman who has long practiced his trade in the same city. "
The Stage Struck Review - Highly Recommended
"..."Heisenberg" is a fascinating exercise for many reasons. For someone who appreciates the things theater can do that no other medium does, the sheer sense of place and time expressed on a black block of a stage with minimal furniture is a treasure in itself. More than this, there is an elemental humanity at work in that space, not to mention two impressive examples of the actors' art to savor. For all these reasons and more, catch this one with these actors, in this setting, while you can."
Culver City News - Highly Recommended
"...Tony Award and two-time Olivier Award winning playwright Simon Stephens makes his Mark Taper debut to complete its 50th Season with HEISENBERG, a sharply original play direct from Broadway featuring 2017 Tony®-nominated Best Actor Denis Arndt (The Night Alive, Basic Instinct) and Tony and Emmy® winner Mary-Louise Parker (Proof, Weeds). Stephens captures every emotion and the many possibilities that accompany new and old love, hope and fear, and reality versus fantasy using the simplest of tales – boy meets girl."
Stage Raw - Somewhat Recommended
"...Director Mark Brokaw gets good work from his actors, but the decision to stage the show in the round (which may have been the playwright's) doesn't help in terms of making the actors clearly audible. Stephens' play is frequently funny and occasionally moving, although the characters are clearly comic types and are not remotely realistic. It succeeds as entertainment if you don't examine it very closely. Also, the title bears only generic relation to the play - you could slap the name Heisenberg on any piece and say it was about uncertainty, and it would have more or less the same ephemeral, pointless connection."
Ticket Holders LA - Somewhat Recommended
"...Parker, however, gifted as she is, seems to fall headlong into Georgie's mirror-image traps. That annoyingly overworked ditsy Goldie Hawn/Diane Keaton/Liza Minnelli/Amanda Plummer female character can get tiresome quickly these days, especially when it feels as though that's the only way such a character-a woman presented as a sexual creature who goes after what she wants in an effort to seduce a member of the opposite sex-can be comfortably depicted. More colors, more heart, less standard mannered choices would make Parker's performance many times more effective."
On Stage Blog - Highly Recommended
"...Werner Heisenberg is best known for his uncertainty principle, which states that there is a limit to how much we can know about two variables-essentially, the more we know about one, the less we know about the other. While many who see the play will likely not get the significance as the title is never mentioned in the text, these two characters are forces of nature who seem to have a profound effect on one another, constantly throwing each other off-balance. It may be a bit of a bumpy ride, but it is ultimately an enjoyable one thanks to two incredibly dynamic performances."
Its Not About Me - Not Recommended
"...There are two main problems with it. The first is a big one-we could barely make-out what the two actors were saying. And I'm known to have bionic ears. (Trust me-you don't want to whisper your secrets if you're anywhere near me.) People seated around me kept asking each other what the actors said, which made it even worse. That was due to the weird staging, which I'm sure the producers thought was clever, but had nothing to do with the story, and was just trying too hard to be different. (Have I mentioned the staging?)"
Indulge Magazine - Recommended
"...According to the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle, it's impossible to know the location and speed of a moving object at the same time. Accordingly, Heisenberg is an apt title for Simon Stephens's exciting, bewildering and ultimately exhilarating play, currently presented at the Mark Taper Forum and starring Tony Award-winner Mary-Louise Parker and Tony Award-nominee Denis Arndt."
