DramaNorth WestReview

111 More Time – HOME, Manchester

Reviewer - Andrea Allen

Writer: Amy Lever and Harriet Eaton

Director: Helen Parry

First created as part of Manchester International Festival 2023, 111 More Time returns to the stage for PUSH Festival 2025, a biennial festival showcasing creative talent in the North West of England – this year hosted at HOME Manchester. This quick 60-minute piece is rooted in verbatim dialogue from volunteers and users of Nightline – a confidential, peer-to-peer telephone service providing judgement-free emotional support and advice for students in higher education.

Written by Amy Lever and Harriet Eaton and created in collaboration with an impressive roll call of Mancunian creative titans including HOME, Contact Theatre and Factory International, 111 More Time stars both Eaton and Lever as Georgie and Tess, student volunteers manning the phone at the Nightline – Manchester office. Over the course of an hour, the piece explores their strained relationship as they navigate the stresses of student life while simultaneously giving up two nights a week to take calls from a tiny secret office represented onstage by a desk and two single inflatable mattresses.

111 More Time is constructed thoughtfully by Lever and Eaton, using interviews with real Nightline volunteers to provide a unique perspective into the variety of calls and challenges faced in an average shift. It is a fitting tribute to the courage and selflessness shown by ‘Nightliners’, who must be students themselves to volunteer and must keep their role strictly confidential to preserve anonymity.

We hear the stories of four callers in 111 More Time, the diversity of the caller’s needs ranging from the seemingly trivial (advice on feminine literature) to those where the volunteers fear for the caller’s safety. We see the caller onstage played by other actors for three of these calls yet the most powerful call comes where we don’t hear or see the other side at all, just Tess’ stuttered response and horrified and haunted expression. 111 More Time excels in this moment, making one wonder whether the show could be explored and redeveloped as a tense two-hander, keeping us in the office with the bubbling tension of Tess and Georgie’s relationship for the duration of these calls, rather than diluting the claustrophobia and intimacy by diverting our attention elsewhere onstage each time the phone rings.

111 More Time is a thoughtful, well-researched show providing a unique insight into the inner workings of a lesser known national charity which is now rolled out in 31 universities across the UK. A fantastic premise which could be something quite special given further thought and development.

Reviewed on Monday 3 February

The Reviews Hub Score

Insightful with great potential

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The Reviews Hub - North West

The North West team is under the editorship of John McRoberts. The Reviews Hub was set up in 2007. Our mission is to provide the most in-depth, nationwide arts coverage online.

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