Four minutes twelve seconds: (Modern Plays)

He says they all do it. These kids, you know, they've got their phones. Film everything. Can't say I blame them. I would at that age. Seventeen-year-old Jack is the apple of his mother's eye. His parents, Di and David, have devoted their lives to giving him every opportunity they never had. As a result, Jack is smart, outgoing, and well on his way to achieving the grades to study Law at Durham University. But a startling incident outside the school gates threatens to ruin everything they've striven for: an incident that suggests a deep hatred of their son. As events begin to accelerate, Di and David start to doubt Jack's closest friends, Jack himself, and ultimately themselves – who can they trust? In a world where smartphones are ubiquitous, James Fritz's deeply provocative and topical drama throws a light on the sorts of insidious opportunities new technology offers – where nothing dies online, except reputation. Four Minutes Twelve Seconds was runner-up for the Verity Bargate Award in 2013. It received its world premiere at Hampstead Theatre in the Downstairs space on 2 October 2014.

About the Author :
James Fritz lives in London and graduated from the Central School of Speech and Drama with an MA in Writing for Stage and Broadcast Media. Four minutes twelve seconds is his first full-length play and was runner-up for the Soho Theatre's 2013 Verity Bargate Award. His first play, Lines ('a highly promising original debut', The Stage), was produced at the Rosemary Branch Theatre in April 2011and was one of Exeunt magazine's critic's picks of the year.

Review :
James Fritz confirms himself as a writer going places in this fascinatingly slippery play in which moral certainties collapse and relationships unravel . . . it's this cleverly structured four-hander that confirms [James Fritz] as a writer going places. . . . a fascinatingly slippery play in which perceptions and sympathies constantly shift. . . . Often shockingly funny and full of little ambiguities, this drama deals in how we see ourselves and others - and make judgments. . . . Fritz deals well with the subtleties of class. . . . a punchy, thoughtful evening The pace and manner in which we are fed the information is delicious, until we are an audience aghast with wide eyes and hands over our mouths. Fritz' play is structurally very satisfying . . . so solidly realised, with astute things to say about class, sexual consent and the internet. . . . The play highlights the terrifying capacity for news to spread widely, quickly and permanently across the internet, to the point where the original perpetrator need not even grace the stage. . . . provocative and clever . . . as inclined to moments of comedy as . . . to pertinent questions Here's a morally terrifying drama for the age of the selfie and sexting. . . . Fritz offer[s] delicious onion-skin layers of obfuscation to unpeel . . . Fritz dissects with unflinching honesty parents' belief in the infallibility of their offspring. tautly written . . . a thoroughly modern morality tale that also turns into a psychological thriller. . . . Four Minutes Twelve Seconds manages to deal with the . . . rather unappealing subjects of sexting, online porn, parental limits and teenage sex without even the hint of a lecture. It's the story that matters here and it is riveting. James Fritz is a serious name to watch . . . a clever multi-layered beast . . . 'Four Minutes Twelve Seconds' is lucid, funny and exceptionally good at lobbing a headachey new moral conundrum at you every few minutes . . . riveting stuff. offers some ferociously funny dialogue, and all sorts of fears and moral quandaries to rummage through. This is a play that deals deftly with the issues modern technology can cause, but at its heart is the human story of how far parents will go to protect their children, and how a parent's idea of right and wrong can be compromised when their child is involved. Impossible to watch without getting a knot in your stomach.