This Friday, June 1st, an English-language performance of award-winning play “Constellations” is being staged at the Serbian Cultural Centre in Budapest. Also showcased on Broadway and in Los Angeles, nominated for a Tony, the piece by British playwright Nick Payne also played in London’s West End and won the prestigious Evening Standard Theatre Award. Now this two-hander, exploring a love affair between a beekeeper and cosmologist, is being presented to a local audience by Budapest-based multicultural theatre company Asterion Project.

Right on focal Nagymező utca of thespian legend, the Serbian Cultural Centre is a distinguished establishment promoting Balkan arts in the Hungarian capital, and providing a suitable space for a variety of international events. This week, its stage is given over to Asterion Project, a Budapest-based multicultural theatre company for English-language performance. On Friday, Čarna Kršul and Norbert Matola from the ensemble will star in the lead roles for the show Constellations. Kršul is also the director of this local version of the globally known piece.

“I've really liked Contellations ever since I first learned about it,” says Kršul.“It’s not like a regular play, it’s a piece with a complex structure, but because it has a love story line, it’s enticing for a wider audience.”

The play follows Roland, a beekeeper, and Marianne, a cosmologist, through their relationship. They meet at a barbecue event and get romantically involved. After the pair moves in together, a confession of infidelity causes them to break up. Later, they run into each other again at a dancing class, resume their relationship and marry. When Marianne gets terminally ill, Roland gives her all his support, but knows that he won’t be able to save her life.

“This exceptional new romantic drama packs more into an hour or so than most manage in three,” The Telegraph wrote in its review after the 2012 London premier of Payne’s show.

Kršul adds that watching this stage performance makes the viewers feel like as if they were floating between dream and reality. “We are also honoured to work with world-renowned choreographer János Feledi,” she outlines, as she talks about the scenes. “This version of the play reflects our vision,” the director adds. “We take the scenes out of their original context and analyse what they mean to us”.

After the Budapest premier on Friday, Constellations by the Asterion Project will be on show again in September at the Serbian Cultural Centre and then in October. By then, the theatre company should be based at a new permanent location at Fém Arts & Café on Váci utca, and can continue to perform there.

Tickets to the show are available at the Serbian Cultural Centre (District VI. Nagymező utca 49) or can be booked online in an e-mail to asterion56@gmail.com. Admission costs 2,700 forints.