British playwright and screenwriter Nick Payne (Constellations, Elegy) is known for his ability to craft complex and compassionate characters. One Day When We Were Young, written in 2011, is an intimate two-hander that follows a 60-year relationship between Violet and Leonard.
The play opens in 1942; the world is at war and Leonard has been called up to serve in the Army. As the bombs fall over Bath, the young couple spend the night together in a hotel room, cleverly created by designer Pollyanna Elston from little more than a bed and a window. “You’ll wait for me…” asks Leonard hopefully. We know they are both young and scared and feeling very alone.
Cassie Bradley and Barney White are just perfect as Violet and Leonard, embodying a real vulnerability and displaying a tenderness that goes beyond the words on the paper. But even without many explicit clues we can sense there are some fundamental differences in their world views.
After a clever little set change, smoothly managed by the actors, the script jumps forward some 20 years. Leonard is alone and still suffering from the trauma of his war-time experiences; Violet is married with two children. “The telegram…”, she says. Perhaps that was the reason she didn’t wait for him; perhaps it would never have been more than it was.
Payne lightens the mood here a little with fun references to how the world has changed. Television, washing machines, Jaffa Cakes and Wimpy Bars all symbolise a new and more optimistic era. The music too, by sound designer Aidan Good, updates the soundtrack of their lives. The simple staging and James Haddrell’s restrained direction are perfectly suited to the intimacy of the Park Theatre.
The final scene sees Violet and Leonard meet again much later in life. They are in their 80s and both alone now, still tied by that distant memory. And that is the essence of this play, the long shadows cast by circumstance and the decisions we make and the haunting thoughts of what might have been.
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It’s clearly a challenge for the script – and the actors – to portray such a vast passage of time. To Payne’s credit, he doesn’t try to say too much, relying on signposts in the dialogue to do the heavy lifting. The actors skilfully use their physicality to manifest their ageing. Like white space on the page, the slow pace and considered pauses in the dialogue give the characters room to breathe and feel real.
One Day When We Were Young offers a gentle and nuanced look at the memories and regrets that beset even the best of lives. White and Bradley are warm and authentic and their performances are genuinely touching.
One Day When We Were Young by Nick Payne
Director: James Haddrell
Designer: Pollyanna Elston
Lighting Designer: Henry Slater:
Sound Designer: Aidan Good
Stage Manager: Cora Parkinson
Pre-Production Photography: Simon Hildrew
Production Photography: Danny Kaan
Videography: Adam Nightingale
Graphic Design: Tom Mann (Ghostlight)
Cast; Cassie Bradley and Barney White
One Day When We Were Young will be performed at the Park Theatre, Finsbury Park, until 22 March 2025.
