How Soon Is Now? is a new indie musical by award-winning playwright Siân Owen, set to a soundtrack of 90s classics. Following its debut at the Lowry, it heads to Sheffield this month as part of a UK tour. We caught up with Siân to discuss the music, memories and friendships behind a show capturing the highs and lows of a big New Year’s Eve night out.
How Soon Is Now? is set in 1997. What makes that year particularly significant for you?
1997 was a huge year for me. I turned 18 that year and where I grew up, Newport, south Wales, was buzzing. It had this incredible indie music scene, and I had this brilliant group of friends (luckily, I still do!). We were out all the time and it was a rite-of-passage year. I also worked in an indie nightclub which was mad and magic.
That year I voted for the first time, experienced loss for the first time and had to make those huge decisions about what came next after leaving school. It felt like such a pivotal moment for me and my friends because we were all so close and then suddenly had to decide where to go next. Politically, it was an exciting time too – there was such a sense of optimism and possibility.
Does much of the story come from personal experience?
Definitely. Some of it is pure imagination, but some of it comes straight from experience and from the memory box. I think I’m a bit of a magpie. My brain collects little films and photographs from life and then, somehow, years later, they find their way into the writing.
Working in the nightclub left such vivid memories. Watching a crowd react when a certain song comes on, seeing friendships form, seeing fights break out, watching people fall in love or fall apart – all of those moments stayed with me. Some parts are deeply personal, others come from friends, stories I’ve heard or people who were only in my life for a season but somehow left a lasting mark. It’s a kind of mixtape of people, nights and memories.
Do any of the characters resonate with you personally?
I’d say there are bits of me in all three, but Jean is probably the closest to my heart and life. That feeling of leaving somewhere you’ve always known, meeting people at exactly the right moment when life isn’t going well, and them somehow helping to save you … that’s something I really wanted to capture.
The production began as a play before becoming a musical. Can you tell us about that journey?
I always like talking about that because I don’t want new writers thinking these things happen overnight. Sometimes they take years and arrive when the time is right. We’ve actually been working on it since 2016, although the seed was planted even earlier in 2011.
Originally it was a play inspired by music. After I’d had my children, I realised what I really wanted to write about was music itself – what it does to people, how transformative it can be and the people we find through it. Music is the soul of this show.
Which artists or songs from that era have stayed with you?
It’s impossible to choose just one because I still listen to all of it. Radiohead, Blur, Oasis, the Smiths, Elastica … they all shaped me. I went to Glastonbury in 1997 and saw Radiohead, which was iconic. And I wanted to be Justine Frischmann from Elastica. I’d steal my brother’s Fender guitar, stand in front of the mirror playing ‘Connection’ and just try to look cool (never has worked!)
Was choosing the playlist difficult?
Honestly, it was one of the most joyful parts of the process because I basically got to make a giant mixtape! One of the earliest songs was ‘No Surprises’. Then I heard Regina Spektor’s cover of it and it completely broke my heart. That version really unlocked something for us. We realised these characters could use songs like this to tell their stories.
The songs we chose are songs that still work when they’re stripped right back. If someone else can reinterpret them and they’re still emotionally powerful, they’ll stand the test of time. I hope audiences hear something new in songs they already know and love.
What do you hope audiences will feel when they watch the show?
I want people to have a really good night out. I want them to feel like they’re standing in the middle of a nightclub watching this story unfold around them. I want them to laugh, cry, dance and escape for a couple of hours from everything happening outside. There are dark moments in the show, but it doesn’t leave you there. It shines a light into those moments and reminds us that we all have them, but there are ways through.
The show celebrates friendship. It celebrates the tribe you find on nights out and in communities that become your family. It celebrates music and everything music can do. Even though there is darkness within it, the whole play is really asking, where is the light? And believing there always is some.
One of the earliest notes I ever wrote about it still feels true:
“It starts with one lonely voice – quiet, broken and discordant. Then it grows into colour, movement, harmony and strength, until it ends with dancing, mirror balls, neon, beating hearts and hope.”
And that’s exactly what the show is. It starts with one broken heart and ends with three mending hearts. If someone came into the theatre on a really bad day, I’d love them to leave believing there’s hope somewhere.
How Soon is Now? is on at Sheffield Theatres’ Playhouse 4-5 November. Tickets and more info available from sheffieldtheatres.co.uk.
