‘It Only Takes A Minute’ takes us through the trials and tribulations of a teenage girl with Aspergers obsessed with ‘Take That’ and growing up as the band reaches their peak and subsequent demise. We start with her learning of her diagnosis at age 26, and from there flashes back through her younger years to explore how her condition, life and Take That converge to create a perfect storm.  The show runs for an hour and we spend that whole hour with the brilliant Anna Kyle, who draws on her own experiences of her diagnosis with Aspergers to create a powerful piece of very personal theatre. A brilliant insight into how a young girl with Aspergers has the same issues that any teenage girl has, and like everyone, some unique ones of her own. At various points being understood and pis-understood by people close to her in her life. Some that are attributed to Aspergers and many that are not. Throughout the play, the audience laughed, cried, sympathized and of course, sung along with Anna.  These are human issues first and foremost and you would be hard pushed to not be moved by them.  Anna and Co-creator Tim Rowntree-Finlay have done a great job of taking us on a journey with a likable character that we’re really rooting for. I really liked the local setting of the play also, with references to Take That’s concert in the Kings Hall and other local references that keep it grounded at home.  All this plays out against a dozen or more Take That songs that had me shocked that I not only knew so many but apparently knew the lyrics to so many.  I was singing along from start to finish.

C21 Theatre Company has produced a marvelous piece of theatre that is recommended for anyone to see and we look forward to seeing what they, Anna Kyle and Tim Rowntree-Finlay lend themselves to next.

‘It Only Takes A Minute’ is on at The MAC until 10th November. Tickets and details can be found here.

Chris Caldwell

Author: Chris Caldwell

Chris Caldwell at your service! My favourite things are eating and Theatre, I have 2 small sons called Alex and Max who are more mustard than Hellmann's. I spend my days trying to wrangle them and exploring my favourite city - BELFAST! My favourite films are horror, my fav music is metal and my favourite Beatle is Ringo, mainly his work on Thomas the Tank.