All the hours is a play in the form of a monologue by a nun with a Greek chorus of four psalm-chanting nuns, ending with a brief passage of dialogue. The scene is a convent cell over the course of a single day sometime toward the end of the 20th century.'The Liturgy of the Hours' which regulates the life of a Cistercian abbey gives the play its structure. The nun, who has been many years in the abbey, has been confined to her cell for a serious breach of The Rule. The drama unfolds in pared back, mischievous and emotive language in a profound examination of grafting the supernatural onto the natural, and the very idea of a religious vocation. William Lyons' autobiographical memoir about his onetime intimate relationship with a religious way of life serves as the introduction to the play.