7 MINUTES

It was Blanche who asked the question. After the ten other members of the Picard and Roche works council had been waiting for nearly four interminable hours, their spokesperson finally arrived and dropped the bombshell. Just one request, almost trivial, a ‘step’ towards management, to ‘reward the effort made’ by giving up less than half their break – just seven minutes.
And just an hour and a half to decide on behalf of the factory’s 200 female employees. 7 Minutes plunges us into the dizzying dilemma of the decision to be made. Trapped in the storage area, amidst the deafening noise of the machines, the eleven actresses engage in a frenzied exchange, in which words fly and tempers flare, driven by a performance that is rhythmic, precise and visceral. They bring to life the musical and choral composition of this breathless play by Stefano Massini, an Italian playwright and artistic advisor to the renowned Piccolo Teatro, immersing us in real time in the tensions of a pivotal journey.