Two competing actors, tyrannised by a chess clock, struggle to compress 34 years of global vs personal history (1991 – 2025) into an allocation of just one minute each per year.

This “hilarious and thought provoking” show bounces between international politics and stories from individuals’ lives. It accelerates through re-enactments of landmark moments in recent history and fragments of past Stan’s Cafe productions towards an exhilarating finale against the clock.

Time Critical is about how we live our lives in relation to the world around us. It gives us a new perspective on the spiralling nature of history.

Stan’s Cafe is one of this country’s most inventive and playful theatre companies. Founded in 1991, they have toured the world and are now Associate Artists at the Gulbenkian Arts Centre.

Loved my first Stan’s Cafe show tonight. Learned more in an hour than I did the whole of GCSE history I reckon!”

Audience Comment