Time and the Conways

by J.B.Priestley

The National Theatre (2009)

Directed by Rupert Goold

Lighting designed by Mark Henderson

Projection designed by 59 productions

The original production's set was recreated on the Lyttleton stage and then animated with kinetic sequences which expressed the theories of Time that Priestley was exploring.

The set and action both froze and then revolved in a ‘bullet-time’ effect. A cannon of identical actresses demonstrated a gesture broken down moment by moment. Finally a huge ‘Pepper’s Ghost’ allowed the characters’ older and younger selves to co-exist in the same space at different times.

“The expressionist techniques deployed by Goold, designer Laura Hopkins, and the sound, lighting and video boffins are also striking: the second act ends with multiple images of the aspirant novelist, and the show closes with a flickering merger of the characters' present and future selves.”

The Guardian