Simon Ward reviews 1.17am, or Until The Words Run Out at Theatre503

Running as part of the Summer Shorts season currently playing at Theatre503, Zoe Hunter Gordon’s new play is an utterly compelling portrait of a friendship placed under seemingly unbearable strain. Katie (Catherine Ashdown) and Roni (Eileen Duffy) have been best friends since childhood and have grown up together. They know each other’s families, they share their most intimate secrets, they know each other inside out. Yet, now the seemingly impossible has happened and they are no longer on speaking terms. Through the course of the play we come to see how they have arrived at this point – it becomes clear that their friendship will never be the same, but it may, just possibly survive.

As is so often the case, at the root of the problem is a man. Or perhaps, two men. One is Roni’s boyfriend, of whom Katie disapproves. The other is Katie’s brother, Charlie, with whom Roni has had a brief affair. The play asks whether the friendship forged over many years is strong enough to withstand the impact of these complicated entanglements. How can you choose between your best friend and your boyfriend? Or your loyalty to your brother? At first it seems hopeless. The pair bump into each other in Charlie’s bedroom – perfectly rendered here by Anna Kelsey and Phoebe Hunter Gordon – and Katie insists that Roni should leave at once. But over the course of an hour, they manage to navigate a path through to a tentatively possible future.

The piece is beautifully written and brilliantly acted. Katie and Roni’s relationship is entirely convincing, including in each one’s stubborn insistence that the other is at fault for their split. Hunter Gordon cleverly ensures that they never say anything to each other that has a false expository ring but nevertheless gives us enough clues to piece together why they have fallen apart. Director Sarah Stacey manages the tension beautifully, as revelation piles on revelation and no-one’s reputation remains intact.

The play is, in part, an exploration of what we ever really know about other people, even our most intimate friends and lovers. What does it mean to know another person? And, of course, the level of initimacy will change over time – no doubt siblings know each other all too well as children, but when they grow up? Is it wrong for Roni to have a relationship with Charlie because she is best friends with Katie? Or is Katie wrong to try to split Roni up from her boyfriend if she thinks he is not good for her, or is even abusing her? There are no easy answers here, but the power of friendship is strong, and maybe that is enough. Emotionally challenging, nerve-shredding and heartbreaking, this is a little gem of a play and I trust it will get a longer run soon.

1.17am, or Until The Words Run Out is running at Theatre503, 503 Battersea Park Road, London, SW11 3BW until Saturday 19th July.