One Minute

Simon Stephens, author of One Minute, in conversation with shiningman about his play:

ONE MINUTE marked something of a change in my writing. I don’t think I’d tried harder, before writing that play, to use form to articulate my ideas. I don’t think I’d written characters like that before. I don’t think I’d written so explicitly about London before. I don’t think I’d thought so hard about metaphor. I’d never written a cop story before…

…I think it’s a hopeful play that attempts to make sense of grief. In that grief, hope and cops all still seem to weave their way through contemporary London. The play still seems to make sense to me…

…It means a huge amount that such a talented young director, such an energetic company and such an extraordinary cast are reviving the play in the heart of that city.

The play

One Minute follows five characters variously affected by the disappearance of Daisy, an 11-year-old girl, from Seven Dials, Covent Garden.

They are Anne, Daisy’s mother, an academic living in the well-heeled part of Camden; Gary and Robert, the two policemen trying to find Daisy; Marie Louise, who believes she witnessed her being abducted and Catherine, a waitress from the cafe where Gary hangs out.

The play’s action spans 11 months over 2001 and is subtly crafted, highlighting the telling minutiae of everyday life following this tragic event. Like many of Simon’s plays, it’s tremendously humane and quirkily funny, with dialogue that picks poetry from naturalism.

Anne quietly breaks down as her personal and professional lives unravel. Catherine meets and moves in with Marie Louise, but they fall out soon after. Marie Louise didn’t see what she claimed and has to come to terms with why she bore false witness. Senior policeman Gary puts all his compassion into his work, leaving his marriage an uncommunicative struggle. Pent-up Robert, new to London, can’t cope with the loneliness of the big city. Both are devastated that they can’t find Daisy or even really discover what happened to her.

But they do discover something about themselves; they all do.

Simon writes about loss better than any other living playwright and One Minute is a sympathetic (and no way prurient) exploration of issues that have barely been out of the news for the last year. Our revival is extremely timely.

But this beautiful, evocative and moving play is much more than that; Daisy’s disappearance is the story/event from which many other ideas are explored. It’s about the isolation and anonymity of London. It’s about facelessness and loneliness. It’s about children and our complex feelings towards them. It’s about feeling on the outside and sadly, enviously looking in.

Simon Stephens

Simon Stephens – Writer

Simon’s plays include Harper Regan (2008, National Theatre), Pornography (2007, Schauspielhaus, Hamburg and 2008, Edinburgh/Birmingham Rep), Motortown (2006, Royal Court), On the Shore of the Wide World (2005, Royal Exchange, Manchester/National Theatre), Country Music (2004, Royal Court), Christmas (2003, APE/Bush), Port (2002, Royal Exchange), Herons (2001, Royal Court) and Bluebird (1998, Royal Court).

He was awarded the Pearson Award for best play for Port in 2002. On the Shore of the Wide World won best new play for 2005 at the Manchester Evening News Awards and the Olivier Award for best new play in 2006. Motortown won the best international play in Theatre Haute, Germany in 2007.

Simon was the resident dramatist at the Royal Court in 2000 and the writers’ tutor on their young writers’ programme from 2001 – 2005. He was the Pearson attached playwright at the Royal Exchange in 2001 and in 2006 he was the first ever resident dramatist at the National Theatre.

One minute was first presented by ATC and Sheffield Theatres at the Crucible Studio, Sheffield on 6 June 2003.

‘There is huge talent and great heart in Stephens’ writing… yielding dark secrets slowly… terrifying violence set against moments of beautiful tenderness.’ Daily Telegraph (on Herons).

Cast of One Minute: Colin Tierney, Alice O’Connell, Charlotte Weston,

Ben Crystal and Eloise Joseph

Directed by Robert Wolstenholme

The Courtyard Theatre, Hoxton

2nd-28th September

Tuesdays – Saturdays 7.30pm

Sundays 5pm 

Sign Language interpreted performance Wednesday 10th September

Courtyard Theatre box office at SeeTickets: 0870 163 0717

or book online at: www.thecourtyard.org.uk

Tickets £15 full price, £10 concessions

Tuesdays ALL SEATS £10

The Courtyard Theatre

40 Pitfield Street

London N1 6EU

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