In the theatre, time is the most elastic of dimensions. Or, as Dr Johnson put it when defending Shakespeare for not following the dramatic unities, "Time is, of all modes of existence, most obsequious to the imagination."¹ Not only are we, the spectators, capable of imagining a prolonged passage of time taking place in a few moments, but the actual temporal length of the performance fluctuates in our perception, depending on the intensity of our interest or boredom.