Skip to main content

REVIEW: Studio 180 Theatre’s Four Minutes Twelve Seconds stirs one moment and puzzles the next

int(110139)
iPhoto caption: Photo by Dahlia Katz
/By / Apr 29, 2024
SHARE

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
WRITTEN BY

Liam Donovan

Liam is Intermission’s senior editor. His writing has appeared in publications like Maisonneuve, This, and NEXT. He loves the original Super Mario game very much.

LEARN MORE

Comments

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *


/
Production photo of People, Places and Things at Coal Mine Theatre iPhoto caption: Photo by Barry McClusky.

REVIEW: Contact highs mix with rehab lows in Coal Mine’s People, Places and Things

Louise Lambert embodies the caustic, recoiling Emma with extraordinary physical and emotional stamina, hands thrust in her hoodie pockets as if they might contain keys to another, less excruciating world.

By Naomi Skwarna
Production photo from The Wolf in the Voice at Tarragon Theatre. iPhoto caption: Photo by Jae Yang.

REVIEW: Tarragon’s The Wolf in the Voice abounds in care, howling, and Throat Coat

The Wolf in the Voice is an energetic yet intimate peek into the lives of singers and the instrument that exists within us all.

By Gus Lederman
Production photo of Just For One Day at Mirvish. iPhoto caption: Photo by Evan Zimmerman for MurphyMade.

REVIEW: Mirvish’s Just For One Day gives Live Aid the showchoir treatment

It’s a group effort to a rather incredible degree — many of the songs are essentially riff battles, with the singers hot-potatoing the melody around.

By Liam Donovan
Production photo of A Streetcar Named Desire at Theatre Calgary. iPhoto caption: Photo by Nanc Price.

REVIEW: A Streetcar Named Desire pulls into Theatre Calgary for the first time in over two decades

You’ll find everything you might expect from a take on A Streetcar Named Desire: sensuality, top-notch performances, and all.

By Eve Beauchamp
Production photo of Cliff Cardinal's CBC Special. iPhoto caption: Photo by Henry Chan.

REVIEW: Cliff Cardinal’s CBC Special is a real gem

Cliff Cardinal’s CBC Special may not broadcast on Canadian television, but it is, indeed, quite special.

By Ryan Borochovitz

REVIEW: La Reine-garçon hits like an avalanche at the COC

This co-production between the Canadian Opera Company and the Opéra de Montréal is eminently watchable.

By Liam Donovan