How long does it take to destroy a life? For Cara, it’s a mere four minutes and twelve seconds and her life will never be the same. The North American Premiere of James Fritz’s Four Minutes Twelve Seconds, directed by Studio 180 Theatre’s Artistic Director Mark McGrinder, is poignant and unpredictable. The stellar cast who brings Four Minutes Twelve Seconds to life makes it a production you’ll be thinking about long after curtain call is done.

Four Minutes Twelve Seconds features Di and David, whose seventeen year old son Jack has just been in a fight with some kids from another school, or so they’re led to believe. What starts out as a seemingly straightforward altercation gets more tangled and complicated as more information is revealed. Despite their best efforts to give their son everything they didn’t have, it seems that Di and David truly have no clue how Jack’s using that privilege. Trust becomes a thing of the past as the couple delves deeper into the situation, until neither parent can clearly see things for what they truly are.

Fritz’s script is one of deception and hearsay, facilitated by the fact that we never actually hear from Jack himself. By not allowing Jack to tell us his side of the story, the audience, like his mother, is left to piece the bits of information we’re able to glean together into a picture of what’s actually happened. What the play also masterfully handles is how these sensitive subjects are discussed; there’s plenty of implied phrasing and innuendo to allow us to understand the severity of what Jack’s done. However, this allows Fritz to address some of the most pertinent issues of our time: consent, privilege, toxic masculinity, and how technology now factors into our lives. While the story itself is fictitious, it smacks of the harsh realities we’ve seen play out on the news time after time.

I have to tell you folks, I’ve never heard the audience turn on the characters of a play as intensely as I did at this performance. While it started out with the occasional gasp, as the climax of the play was coming to a head, it seemed that almost every line elicited some kind of emotional reaction. This is storytelling at its best, when the audience is so rapt and invested in the story that they can’t help but openly react to the performance.

Jackie Chau’s set and costume design, along with Logan Raju Cracknell’s lighting design, created a dynamic space on which this story is told. I particularly liked the transitions between scenes, as they added an extra level of activity to the play. While the set was static, it was filled with plenty of details which allowed us to understand the characters and their social status right away.

It’s difficult to imagine a more perfect cast than the one which Studio 180 Theatre has assembled for this production. Megan Follows helms the cast as Di; she delivers a stirring performance as she guides the audience on this journey. She gives Di a sincerity and earnestness which allow us to connect with her (for a time, at least). Sergio Di Zio’s David is likewise likeable at first, but as Di’s trust begins to fall away so does the audience’s. He delivers an impressive performance, and his chemistry with Follows is spot on. Jadyn Nasato gives a moving and heartfelt performance as Jack’s girlfriend Cara; from her first appearance on stage we get a sense for who Cara is, and then she tears down every opinion we have of her as the play goes on. Tavaree Daniel-Simms completes the cast as Jack’s friend Nick. His genuine nature shines through his character, making him one of the few people we feel like we an trust in this play.

I know that I’ll be mulling over the events of this play for a long time, particularly the final moments. You won’t want to miss this riveting and thought-provoking play which runs until May 12th in the Tarragon Extraspace. For more information and tickets, visit: https://studio180theatre.com/productions/four-minutes-twelve-seconds/

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Cover photo: Sergio Di Zio and Megan Follows. Photo by Dahlia Katz

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