Once: What’s in a Title


The title Once carries many meanings, each of which conjures different images and associations. The ideas sparked by the title are important to consider because they shape how an audience will approach the story they are being told. Below are excerpts from interviews with the creative team of the original film, entries from dictionaries and a marketing slogan, each presenting a varying interpretation of the title and suggesting important themes in the show. What does Once mean to you?


Official Film Tagline


How often do you find the right person?


ONCE Once upon a time… Fairy tales are some of the most


widely known stories in our culture. The traditional opening of these


stories, “Once upon a time,” literally means at some time in the past, but carries with it other implications of magic, romance, and happy endings.


Does Once share any characteristics with a fairytale? In what ways is it not a fairy story?


once John Carney


(Writer and Director of the film Once)


Definitions of Once from Oxford Dictionaries


Once can act as an adverb, referring to the fact that something occurred on one


occasion, or one time only. It can also act as a conjunction, meaning as soon as or when. This meaning of once creates a


conditional future dependent upon certain events. As part of several common


phrases, once holds other significance. At once implies simultaneity, while all at once, describes something which happened suddenly orwithout warning.


What do each of these definitions suggest about the plot and themes of Once?


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The title originally referred to a planned scene in which the two


characters made love, but just once. After the actors objected to Mr.


Carney’s idea (“So predictable,” Ms. Irglová said), the scene wasn’t filmed. Now the title, Mr. Carney says, refers to fellow Irishmen and


women he would encounter in bars: “They say, ‘Once I do this, then it’ll


be great.’ But they never do it. It’s a great Irish tradition of vacillating.”


Markéta Irglová (co-­‐writer of the show’s music and


originator of the role The Girl in the film)


I guess what makes the most sense is


the typical human thing of never living in the present but living in the future


and always putting things off by saying, “Once I do this, I’ll be happy, and once I do that, I’ll be rich.” I guess that’s what makes most sense to me.


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