The non-chronological telling of the stories reflects Alec's frenetic state of mind. The action moves freely back and forth between 1960, 1980 and 2000.

The intercutting presents a challenge to the audience (who must piece together the facts of the story as if constructing a puzzle) and to the actors.

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The male lead must repeatedly change his mindset from that of the 60-year-old Alec to the same character aged 20 and 40. The female lead must play three different women, all aged 40, but very different in character and period.

The intercutting also serves to focus attention on crucial parallels between the stories.

For example, there are three key props that run through all the stories — a book, a necklace and a photograph — each with its part to play in Alec's downfall.

Each of the three relationships involves a trip to Venice, where Alec stays in the same hotel room with his beloved of the day. The three Venice scenes are played consecutively, moving progressively backwards through time, as if reflecting Alec's desire to deconstruct the story in order to arrive back at the happy beginning.

Perhaps the most striking interconnecting feature of the three stories is the fact that the three women are closely related. Lucy (2000) is the daughter of Natasha (1980), while Natasha is Belinda's (2000) daughter.

Even as Alec seeks to unravel the web of mistakes that have brought him to his present impasse, the broader story is driven relentlessly forward by his striving to redeem his failures with one generation by appealing to the next.

Whilst Twenty-Twenty was originally conceived as a stage play, it is increasingly evident that it would work particularly well as a film, being able to achieve the true fluidity that is constrained by the practicalities of live theatre.