REVIEW: Studio 180 Theatre’s Four Minutes Twelve Seconds stirs one moment and puzzles the next
iPhoto caption: Photo by Dahlia Katz
Constructed as a series of reveals detailing events set before the play’s start, it may be best to experience Studio 180 Theatre’s Four Minutes Twelve Seconds, directed by Mark McGrinder at the Tarragon Theatre Extraspace, with no knowledge of what’s to come. There are so many twists, it occasionally appears playwright James Fritz is satirizing the plotiness of thrillers — though at other points he embraces these narrative swerves with earnestness, or something resembling it.
The play in any case centres on Di (Megan Follows) and David (Sergio Di Zio), a married couple living in Scarborough (for the North American premiere of this British play from 2014, McGrinder has modified location names). After their 17-year-old son Jack, who never appears on stage, returns home wearing a shirt covered in blood, Di and David panic, stained garment in hand: who’s done this? Turns out it’s the brother of Cara (Jadyn Nasato), Jack’s ex-girlfriend. Cara dumped him after a video of the two having sex surfaced online. Owing in part to the sweet Nick (Tavaree Daniel-Simms), a schoolmate of the young couple, information surfaces indicating the sex was likely non-consensual, further distressing Di and David.
Fritz has named fellow Brit Caryl Churchill as an influence, a fact visible in the play’s snappy, cutoff-ridden dialogue, made up largely of conversations slow to unveil their subject. And though Fritz’s deployment of this style can veer toward affectation — he sometimes obscures trivial information until it’s more aggravating than engrossing — it does serve to produce an aura of mystery, along with a degree of forward momentum.
Di emerges as our detective. She’s the only character with any real will to uncover the truth of what’s occurred and thereby push the drama forward. She collects evidence, meets with both Cara and Nick, and concocts idiosyncratic plans to resolve the conflict, all the while fighting to stay grounded. As the script ties itself in narrative knots, Follows never loses sight of the situation’s overwhelming nature; it’s as if Di’s fending off a panic attack at every moment, grabbing onto any scrap of hope she can, clutching to it for survival.
Critics at Toronto’s daily newspapers have had very strong feelings about this (in my view) rather middle-of-the-road production; for the Globe and Mail’s J. Kelly Nestruck, the script is dated and the direction “embarrassingly awkward,” while for Toronto Star’s Joshua Chong, the show is “pretty close to perfect.”
I see where both writers are coming from: the show is conflicting, with much to both stir and puzzle. On a certain level, Fritz’s twists rouse, and are entertaining in the comforting manner of genre fiction purchased at an airport. But they never stop coming off as constructed; the play prioritizes shocks above all else, at times seeming more interested in manipulating the audience than staying true to its characters.
As for McGrinder’s direction, I find the production effective on the level of rhythm, pace, and, often, performance (Di Zio is one of Toronto’s most metamorphic actors, transforming from role to role enough that it usually takes me a few minutes to recognize him). But McGrinder realizes the physical world of the play is in a less complete manner. Jackie Chau’s set of angular modern furniture is sleek, backing up the text’s hints that Jack’s family is wealthy in comparison with Cara’s — yet the actors don’t get many chances to interact with it, making it feel oddly tertiary. And while lighting designer Logan Raju Cracknell provides extra theatricality via occasional isolations of Follows’ Di, the choice to illuminate an unimportant upstage bowl of apples during nearly every transition grows confusing.
McGrinder has opted against selecting a specific angle for his production, writing in his director’s note that distilling a Studio 180 show down to a single idea “has never been more challenging than it is with Four Minutes Twelve Seconds.” Instead, he writes, the play is a catalyst for conversations around “consent, privacy, masculinity, sexual assault, and the perils of technology.” Embracing this thematic soup rather than picking a defined direction doesn’t exactly help with bringing the text into the present day.
That said, I’m glad to see the show has two student matinees scheduled each week. The relevant subject matter, winding plot, pulpy 80-minute runtime, and pair of heartfelt performances from Nasato and Daniel-Simms — young, emerging actors — mean high schoolers in particular should find plenty to get excited about.
Four Minutes Twelve Seconds runs until May 12 at Tarragon Theatre. Tickets are available here.
Intermission reviews are independent and unrelated to Intermission’s partnered content. Learn more about Intermission’s partnership model here.
Liam Donovan
Liam is Intermission’s publishing and editorial assistant. Based in Toronto, his writing has appeared in Maisonneuve, This Magazine, NEXT Magazine, and more. He loves the original Super Mario game very much.
LEARN MORE
iPhoto caption: Photo by Johan Persson.
REVIEW: Life of Pi gleams with unforgettable puppets
Based on the beloved novel by Yann Martel, the exquisite touring production uses puppets as its vocabulary, asking complex questions about storytelling and the power of imagination.
iPhoto caption: Photo by Elana Emer.
REVIEW: Infinite Life thrums with meditations on chronic illness and pain
Director Jackie Maxwell’s production at Coal Mine Theatre, featuring six generous, empathetic performances, is a paean of understanding for the chronically ill, candidly examining the despair and fury of bodily helplessness in a way that’s magnified by our proximity to the characters in the intimate space.
iPhoto caption: Photo by Dahlia Katz.
REVIEW: In Rosmersholm, ghosts abound
While the play’s ideas sizzle and pop with contemporary verve, the story’s an occasionally frustrating vessel for those captivating sentiments on politics and identity.
iPhoto caption: Photo by Dahlia Katz
REVIEW: 1s1 Theatre’s Qalb marries autobiography with ASL poetry
Since much of Qalb is about distance — between mind and heart, justice and reality, me and you — it’s a powerful statement of hope to conclude with the bridging of a gap.
iPhoto caption: Photo courtesy of Theatre Calgary.
REVIEW: The Play That Goes Wrong dazzles at Theatre Calgary
The Play That Goes Wrong is a sparking-flaming-smoking car crash that you just can’t take your eyes off of. A fiery, racing delight, this is not a production to be missed.
iPhoto caption: Photo by Rick Clifford
REVIEWS: Toronto International Film Festival 2024
A filmed production of an experimental Egyptian opera, a TV series penned by Jordan Tannahill, and the moviemaking debut of Broadway director Marianne Elliott are among the offerings at this year’s TIFF with connections to the world of theatre.
iPhoto caption: Festival image of Jessica Zepeda by Ana Higuera, poster design Victor Terzis
Aluna Theatre drops 2024 RUTAS Festival lineup
The festival showcases a lineup of interdisciplinary talent from across the Americas, with programming connected around the theme of “personal cartographies.”
iPhoto caption: Photo by Dahlia Katz
REVIEW: 1s1 Theatre’s Qalb marries autobiography with ASL poetry
Since much of Qalb is about distance — between mind and heart, justice and reality, me and you — it’s a powerful statement of hope to conclude with the bridging of a gap.
iPhoto caption: Members of the company in Cymbeline. Stratford Festival 2024. Photo by David Hou.
“I warn my friends before they come — I’m like, ‘it’s a long show!’” says Jordin Hall, who plays Posthumus in Stratford's Cymbeline. “And then by the end, they’re all usually like: ‘it didn’t feel that long.’ That’s the greatest compliment they can give us — that we kept them hooked for three hours of crazy, not-often-done Shakespeare.”
iPhoto caption: Photo by Rick Clifford
REVIEWS: Toronto International Film Festival 2024
A filmed production of an experimental Egyptian opera, a TV series penned by Jordan Tannahill, and the moviemaking debut of Broadway director Marianne Elliott are among the offerings at this year’s TIFF with connections to the world of theatre.
iPhoto caption: Production photos courtesy of SummerWorks. Shows, from left to right, top to bottom: Girl's Notes III, SUBJECT TO خضوع, The Movements, Warm up.
REVIEW: This year’s SummerWorks Performance Festival embraced danger — in more ways than one
Several of this year's productions took direct aim at our present moment’s evils: Targets included corporate speaking gigs, rent payments, climate change, global wealth inequality, and the ostracization of horse girls.
iPhoto caption: Poster courtesy of GFT.
Guild Festival Theatre to present one-night-only concert version of Evalyn Parry’s SPIN
Inspired in part by the incredible true story of Annie Londonderry, who in 1895 became the first woman to ride around the world on a bicycle, SPIN travels from 19th-century women’s emancipation to the present day, forging unexpected links across time and history.
Comments