Director and Deviser: Ioana Pitic

An ambitious 55-minute piece, destined for Edinburgh, Time and Time Again depicts friendship between two women, taking in issues such as migration and separation.

Becca (YY Yong) and Zoe (Stephanie Renae Law) meet at primary school in China and become friends who promise to support each other. Inevitably, as they grow up, their lives take different paths. Becca goes to university in London and settles with a successful career in the UK. Zoe stays put, and after much rather confusing shilly-shallying, marries.

Both actors are competent, although Law is marginally more convincing. Their lithe physicality is quite impressive.  And there’s a great deal of neat miming against a background of Inez Ruiz’s slick sound design, which includes the ticking of a clock to indicate the passage of time. The set comprises six upright chairs with empty backs which are imaginatively used to become an exercise bike, a bath, public lavatories, beds, screens for Zoom meetings and more.

The storytelling, however, is fuzzy. The narrative moves backwards and forwards, possibly to suggest alternative outcomes and paths. Despite the old-fashioned radio dial projected on the back wall to indicate which year we’re in, the chronology is muddled.

It’s an interesting idea for a play, but it is trying to do too much at once and therefore lacks focus. And why is it so darkly lit?

Reviewed on 20 July 2025 and then plays at Edinburgh Fringe