When does 'missing' become 'presumed dead'?
One minute. That's how long it takes for a little girl, Daisy Schults, to disappear from a busy London street.
This story takes place over the year following her disappearance. We follow the investigation through a constellation of five characters, each affected by the unfolding tragedy. Her mother, Dr Schults, pragmatic, intelligent & negotiating grief. Robert, a young detective, eager to prove himself. His partner, Gary, world-weary copper with a poet's heart. A key witness. A girl working at a bar. Five lives coming together & clashing.
As the investigation stalls, their humanity is challenged. How does grief shape them?
Simon Stephens' One Minute is a play as urgent as when it was first written in 2003. The bleakness of the circumstances, the absence of a child, is handled beautifully through the passage of times. The characters, very recognisable Londoners with all their majestic flaws & gifts, together with the London streets & monuments that are ever-present in the play, offer an immediate sense of familiarity to the audience. The characters with their banter, jokes & trauma serve as guides through this year of investigation, of absence.
The Working Actors Studio creates a production that examines, with tenderness & raw honesty, what it's like to live in London in times of change & uncertainty.
CAST & CREATIVES
Author | Simon Stephens
Director | Demi Leigh
Producers | Working Actors Studio & Lee Lomas
Marie Louise | Imogen Davis
Catherine | Imogen Mackenzie
DI Gary Burroughs | Lee Lomas
DC Robert Evans | Frederik Lysegaard
Dr Anne Schults | Reshma Morris