LUUâs Open Theatre Society devise eight original shows throughout each academic year that have been entirely imagined and brought to life by University of Leeds students. This year, the first of these is The Department of Lost Time, showing Oct 28-30th, and after watching opening night I can announce that it is absolutely worth your time!Â
The unique premise of the play centres around a government office that processes claims of âLost Timeâ, which the clerks either reimburse or deny. The play follows the arrival of a new trainee who questions this lost time and ultimately why time matters.Â
In the queue to enter Banham Theatre, youâre immediately immersed in the world of the Department of Lost Time as you submit your claims of lost time into a jar that appears later in the play. One of the best things about the production is how it subtly incorporates the audience – it helped make the concept feel real. In the theatre, the Janitor, played by Honor Gore, was cleaning around the audience members and drawing them into conversation about their own wasted time and the workings of the department. It helped to establish the concept of the Department of Lost Time, and it made the admittedly foreign concept feel less unusual, setting up the story before it began. Â
The first part of the play focused on the cases of lost time being put to the clerks for judgment. These cases, starting with a relatable missed bus, grew more bizarre, with the loss of âyesterdayâ and a mistaken death. The actual cases were interesting, but it was the captivating reaction to the lost time, from both the Citizens and the Clerks, which drove the play. You particularly felt the frustration of Citizen B, who had âlost her yesterdayâ and left the Department with no more clarification than she had upon entering. It introduced the sense of entitlement and ownership we have to what we perceive as time owed to us.Â
The focal characters were Clerks 1 and 2, played by Kitty Clements and Abe Assad, and they embodied two very contrasting approaches to their job. Although with a similar outlook of apathy to their job, Clerk 1 approached each case with far more sympathy, and Clerk 2 was determined to embody the policies of the department he worked for. Their easy dialogue displayed these two approaches well and made for an interesting dynamic on stage, as well as adding some humour.
The show reached its crux after the arrival of the Trainee, with the last case of the play. Citizen D arrived on the stage armed with the jar of missed time the audience had filled prior to entering the theatre, with the request of redeeming all these smaller moments of lost time for more time to spend with her sister. The Departmentâs policy, embodied by Clerk 2, was clear: time is not redeemable, but the Trainee, and to a degree, Clerk 1 showed empathy, forcing Clerk 2 to question these policies. In doing so, the audience was forced to grapple with the question of how we would spend our time if it were a transaction. How would your timekeeping change if you could exchange small moments of wasted time for more time with those you love, or doing what you love? How much time would those small moments of time add up to? What are we owed regarding time, if anything? The play leaves us wondering.Â
There is no official conclusion – 5pm reaches the Department of Time, and Clerk 1 decrees that they approach it again tomorrow. Not only does this emphasise the cyclical, never-ending nature of their work, and lost time as a concept, but perhaps reflects the wider instinct to worry about our own âlost timeâ at a later date. But, would it be too late? The play has already revealed that we canât choose when weâd like more time. The conclusion, although not stated, is clear in the resounding message to the audience, that we canât demand more time, and our time is only lost when itâs not spent with those we love.Â
February Hashimhony has written a unique play with exciting originality: it felt simultaneously realistic and strange, and was an interesting way to get an audience to grapple with big questions surrounding time. It was well executed, humorous at points, and serious in the right moments. The actors were brilliant; I felt myself rooting for them, and the sound and production of the play only served to enrich the experience. This play occupies a pocket of time that could never be wasted; it was a triumph of an opening night, both for the Department of Lost Time and for this yearâs Open Theatre society.
Editor: Grace Lees