EDINBURGH 2026 Review: 44 MINUTES, Assembly @ St Adrew Square
Runs until 30 August.
Four men are trapped in a cage. Edging towards despair, they try to understand if they may have anything in common that could have brought them there. What starts as a locked-room mystery turns into a bona fide psychological horror in Lev Steinberg’s debut. A jumpy, lean script questions how you determine the value of a life. How do you decide who gets to survive?
Directed by Michael DeFilippis, 44 Minutes is an unnerving provocation with an exhilarating plot twist. It’s a solid exploration of self-preservation and vengeance, featuring a broader reflection on suspicion, mistrust, and cruelty. John Billingsley, Dorian Missick, Christopher Ryan, and Matthew Petrick engage in a sick game. Faced with an ethical dilemma, how long are people willing to fight?
DeFilippis keeps isolating one of the four men, continuously toying with the visual arrangement of their bodies. It’s one of those pieces of theatre that appease the human craving for philosophical analysis. Steinberg builds his narrative slowly, feeding his audience the right amount of crumbs so that they know what to expect from the full meal. Then, abruptly, he snatches it away, plate and all.
The spotlight shifts, and we add another layer of enquiry. Suddenly, it’s easy to cast our minds back and connect the dots. It’s almost as if DeFilippis has worked backward in the mise en scène, exploiting each inch of subtlety in Steinberg’s writing. It’s a thrilling production. Once you’re lulled into believing you can see what’s going to happen, 44 Minutes changes its pace entirely, forcefully presenting a different play altogether. This is a good one.
Get Broadway News on WhatsApp
Receive the latest updates, breaking news, and exclusive coverage from Broadway directly in WhatsApp.
|
Antigone 1989: A Town Hall Musical Gilded Balloon Patter House (8/05-8/29) |
|
Elvis in Chaos Lime Studio at Greenside @ George Street (8/07-8/15) |
|
It's A Struggle Coming Out theSpace @ Niddry Street (8/08-8/13) |
|
Disney''s Muppet Christmas Carol in Concert Usher Hall (12/03-12/03) |
|
An Ode to the Casting Director Assembly George Square Studios (8/05-8/29) |
|
Baby Wants Candy Assembly George Square Studios - One (8/05-8/30) |
|
The Great Shakespeare Showdown in Silver City Haldane Theatre at theSpace @ Surgeons' Hall (Venue 53) (8/07-8/22) |
|
Copycat Pleasance Dome (Jack Dome) (8/05-8/31) |
|
How Not to Make it in America Summerhall (Former Gent’s Locker Room) (8/06-8/31) |
|
In a Bad Way Gilded Balloon Patter House (Blether), (8/05-8/31) |
Reader Reviews
To post a comment, you must register and login.