One Minute

Description

The new play by the Royal Court's writer-in-residence "When you close your eyes and you think about your home, what do you think about?" Robert Evans is new to the police force, and his enthusiasm for the case is keener than that of his cynical colleague Gary Burroughs. They're both looking for a missing child. But as the mother, Dr Anne Schults, wants to know, when does "missing" become "presumed dead"? Simon Stephens' new play is a disquieting portrait of the many lives that are united in the single moment it takes for a child to disappear. Praise for Simon Stephens: "A major new voice in British Theatre" - Scotsman; "Herons is filled with a sense of life's miraculous potential. It deals with damaged characters yet is imbued with a poetic lyricism" - Guardian

Simon Stephens began his theatrical career in the literary department of the Royal Court Theatre, where he ran its Young Writers' Programme. His plays for theatre include Bluebird (Royal Court Theatre) Herons (Royal Court Theatre, 2001); Port (Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester, 2002); One Minute (Crucible Theatre, Sheffield, 2003 and Bush Theatre, London, 2004); Christmas (Bush Theatre, 2004); Country Music (Royal Court Theatre Upstairs, 2004); On the Shore of the Wide World (Royal Exchange Theatre and National Theatre, London, 2005); Motortown (Royal Court Theatre Downstairs, 2006); Pornography (Tricycle Theatre, London, 2009); Harper Regan (National Theatre, 2008); Sea Wall (Bush Theatre, 2009); Heaven (Traverse Theatre, 2009); Punk Rock (Lyric Hammersmith, London, 2009); The Trial of Ubu (Essen Schauspielhaus/Toneelgroep Amsterdam, 2010); A Thousand Stars Explode in the Sky (co-written with David Eldridge and Robert Holman; Lyric Hammersmith, London, 2010); Wastwater (Royal Court Theatre Downstairs, 2011); Morning (Lyric Hammersmith, 2012); an adaptation of A Doll's House (Young Vic, 2012); an adaptation of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (National Theatre, 2012); Blindsided (Royal Exchange, 2014); and Birdland (Royal Court, 2014). His radio plays include Five Letters Home to Elizabeth (BBC Radio 4, 2001) and Digging (BBC Radio 4, 2003). Awards include the Pearson Award for Best New Play, 2001, for Port; Olivier Award for Best New Play for On the Shore of the Wide World, 2005; and for Motortown German critics in Theater Heute's annual poll voted him Best Foreign Playwright, 2007. His adaptation of Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time won the 2015 Tony Award for Best Play.

Stephens has gone on to write such major pieces as 'Harper Regan' and 'Pornography' ... 'One Minute' shares something with the latter in that once again we get a sense of London's vast size and of lonely people briefly brushing against each other as they try to find themselves. * Time Out London 11/09/08 *