8 Minutes Left is an amazing, and somewhat terrifying, story about what people would do with very little time left until the world ends. This dark, nihilistic, premise sets the stage for one of the most unique parts of its narrative, switching between different settings rapidly with only about 1-2 characters in each setting.
This dynamic allows the actors of the Drama Club to showcase their abilities, and the minimal distractions leads to some scenes being characters talking straight to the audience. With that said, the actors nailed their performances: with Cary’s (played by Sully Sievard) hilarious and awkward straightforwardness, Derek’s (played by Sam Elliot) foolish mannerisms, or even the self-aware lines of Paterson the cat (played by Leo Heft), every actors performance was spectacular.
Though it feels weird to say, the observers (played by Caroline Dennis and Emily Wisely) were an especially impactful part of the play. They are two people who say nothing throughout the whole play. The observers begin the play with a carboard sign saying that the world will end at exactly 4:44 P.M.. They then take seats on both sides of the stage and simply watch the scenes unfold, and at the end of each scene they bunce a ball and hold a sign introducing the next scene. The observers were a subtle reminder that no matter what every character said and did, the world was over in a matter of minutes so it didn’t matter anyway.
The most terrifying part of the play by far was scene 10. During this scene, the character of Amalia (played by Sophia Berger) alone in a room plays voicemails from her friends and family and quietly cries as she listens to them. As the scene progresses, sirens reminiscent to WW2 bombing sirens and police sirens grow louder and louder and the scene cuts suddenly when after moving through every voicemail the character plays begins to replay the first message again. The scene is scary, its emotional, and its exceptionally well acted by actors who were able to nail the sound of a voicemail even down to the speeding up as the voicemail ran low on time.
8 Minutes Left was a fantastic choice for the Spring play, and the BASH Drama Club did a fantastic job at setting it all up. The play was equally well received by the audience, who gave them a round of applause at the end of all 12 scenes.
