Time and the Conways

J.B. Priestley’s poignant family drama Time and the Conways follows the Conway family of four sisters, two brothers and their widowed mother from their optimistic start in post World War I (1919) to their self-destructive end in 1938. What is unique in Priestley’s story is the audience is returned to 1919 in Act 3 to witness the events that set in motion the decline of the family’s future, detailed in Act 2–giving us a chance to wonder how the slightest change in that evening 19 years ago might have made a difference in the ultimate outcome.