Review: 1:17am, or Until the Words Run Out, Finborough Theatre

Grief is a funny thing: something that comes for us all, never too early or too late, yet we remain unprepared for it regardless.

1:17am, or Until the Words Run Out follows Katie (Catherine Ashdown) as she reckons with her brother Charlie’s recent death, finding herself responsible for clearing out his bedroom. Mim Houghton’s set is stunning, placing Katie in a messy room that purposefully evokes Tracey Emin’s My Bed, a tribute to depression that makes a monument out of a mess. A house party rages above her, where Charlie’s former housemates, in some ways, celebrate his life on the last night of their flat share, while Katie holds a quiet vigil in resentful solitude. That fragile peace is disrupted by the arrival of Roni (Eileen Duffy), Katie’s former best friend.

Roni and Katie have not spoken since Charlie’s death, for reasons the play gradually reveals, peeling back layers like an infected wound until only the raw truth remains. Cleverly, the action unfolds in real time across a single extended scene, presumably concluding late-night at 1:17am. Sarah Spencer’s sound design reinforces this realism, with house and electronic music drifting in and out from upstairs as tensions between the two ex-friends escalate.

Duffy is electric as Roni, convincingly cycling through a tumult of emotions: pity, loneliness, disgust, and love. Katie’s grief is more direct, but no less complex, yet proves harder to land initially. It feels strained at the beginning, perhaps due to the demands of the play’s relentless pace and single-scene structure, but it gradually softens into something more convincing as the narrative unfolds. With each revelation, it becomes easier to believe the easy intimacy that these two women once had and lost, making the tragedy of their estrangement all the more affecting.

Thematically, Zoe Hunter Gordon’s script is ambitious, engaging with issues of class, nationality, sexual assault and toxic relationships alongside its central exploration of grief. At times, however, this breadth causes the writing to buckle beneath its own weight. There is so much to say, yet not enough time (as noted in the title), resulting in topics that feel insufficiently explored before the focus shifts elsewhere. With so much to cover, the relationship between the characters rarely gets time to truly flow or develop organically, and their extensive shared history can feel distant rather than fully realised.

Where 1:17am truly shines is in its focus on the grief that defines the play, and the love that underpins that grief. It is a courageous work, unflinching in its darkness yet vital in its attempt to open conversations about loss, discussions I was fortunate enough to overhear among audience members as I left the theatre at 8:51pm.

Despite imperfections, it is brave theatre-making that should be commended and offers a moving reminder of grief’s power to both fracture and unite us.

Written by: Zoe Hunter Gordon
Directed by: Sarah Stacey
Produced by: Zava Productions
Set Design by Mim Houghton
Sound Design by Sarah Spencer
Costume Design by Anouk Mondini
Dramaturgy by Sarah Stacey
Lighting Design by Catja Hamilton
Presented by ZAVA Productions in association with Neil McPherson for the Finborough Theatre.

1:17am, or Until the Words Run Out plays at Finborough theatre until Saturday 7 March.