‘Shifters’ Gracefully Shifts Through Time and Memory

Every so often, a moony, moody romance that has earned acclaim on the London stage makes its way across the pond. Two years ago, The Shed revived Lucy Prebble’s “The Effect,” in which two Brits develop feelings for each other while taking part in a clinical drug trial, introduced at the National Theatre in 2012. 2015, the year before that play had initially transferred to New York, saw the Broadway premiere of Nick Payne’s “Constellations,” which offered five variations on a conversation between a physicist and a beekeeper, each taking place in a different realm. Now the Cherry Lane Theatre is hosting the off-Broadway debut of Benedict Lombe’s “Shifters,” another U.K.-based work that treads the line between thoughtfulness and preciousness while following an attractive young couple. Like “Constellations,” to which it has been compared, the one-act play considers how both circumstance and choice can impact relationships, in this case bouncing back and forth in time as it follows two characters who first meet as teenagers. We first meet Dre at 32 years old, at a funeral reception for the beloved grandmother who had looked after him since his mom returned to her native Nigeria. Des, his old flame — the name is short for Destiny — turns up from the United States, where she has become a successful artist. We’ll later learn that study and career opportunities separated them to begin with, taking her abroad, although how and why she decided to pursue them will be one of many subjects debated.“Shifters” is particularly concerned with the role of memory, how it “shapes our reality,” as Des puts it. “We can’t help but make meaning out of what we know in the present, right? And the meaning we make of our lives changes how we remember things,” she posits at one point, adding, “If we’re all reconstructing our own truth, that means there’s no single truth, so I guess — I dunno — I guess then we’re kind of just asking: what is…‘truth’?”Such lofty meandering is, happily, mitigated by lighter moments as Des and Dre jump — or shift, I suppose — from their school years to their twenties to the present, and back again. Alex Berry’s sparse set and Neil Austin’s lighting reflect their changing moods: Lasers of different lengths hang vertically and sometimes diagonally above the stage, transmitting cool shades of beige and blue at times, then suddenly bursting into brighter colors to suggest anxiety, excitement, or discord.Director Lynette Linton culls similarly multifaceted performances from her cast members. Heather Agyepong, who originated the part of Des at West London’s Bush Theatre and also played it on the West End, can seem a tad overzealous in projecting her character’s crackling energy, but she also captures Des’s intelligence and her emotional conflicts, first as a girl whose mother died young and then as a woman whose creative pursuits have other dark roots.Daniel Ezra, who is new to the production, is better still. The British actor, probably best known here for portraying a football player in the CW series “All American,” brings to Dre both vulnerability and a robust masculinity, and above all a fundamental decency. Mr. Ezra can convey, adorably, young Dre’s insecurity around the seemingly self-possessed Des as well as his increasing desire to protect her, and the lingering pain caused by Dre’s mother’s abandonment is made movingly palpable.“Shifters” could definitely use some editing and overall tightening; the last half hour in particular feels drawn out, with short scenes that sometimes hint as resolution but inevitably lead to another exchange at another time and place. But Ms. Lombe’s one-act play offers glimmers of insight, along with some platitudes, and Ms. Linton and her players deliver them with grace and charm.

‘Shifters’ Gracefully Shifts Through Time and Memory

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