Theater Review: Time Stands Still

Journalistic Ethics with Some Romance on the Side
By Lauren Yarger
When does the journalist stop being a documenter of events and cross the line over to become a participant? For photographer Sarah Goodwin (Laura Linney) who survived a roadside bombing, the answer is never and it guides her career, as well as her relationships in Manhattan Theatre Club’s Broadway presentation of Donald Margulies’ new play Time Stands Still.

Surviving a coma and the explosion that killed her interpreter/lover and left the right side of her face scarred from shrapnel, Sarah returns to the apartment she shares with long-time, live-in boyfriend and fellow journalist James Dodd (Brian D’Arcy James). Welcoming her home are Richard Ehrlich (Eric Bogosiam), her editor at the magazine, and also her former lover, and his new, very much younger, event-planner girlfriend Mandy Bloom (a very engaging Alicia Silverstone) who is pregnant.

The bombing has put things in perspective for James, riddled with guilt for having left Sarah in the field prior to the bombing. He wants to marry her, give up the globe-trotting existence of a war correspondent and settle down for a normal life with kids.

Meanwhile, Richard ties the knot with Mandy, whom Sarah thinks is rather simple and not up to the intellectual speed of the rest of the group. The naïve know-nothing is the one who asks the hard questions, though, like how can Sarah stay behind her lens and photograph all the suffering she sees without putting the camera down to help the person in need? A journalist’s job is to record so others will know what is happening, Sarah quickly replies, not to change the events. She can’t think about what she’s photographing—time just stands still. The realization that she lives off the suffering of strangers does give her pause, however.

It soon becomes apparent that the “stay distant” philosophy applies to James too. She’s willing to view the relationship through the safety of a lens, but isn’t willing to step into the picture frame. She agrees to marry him, more out of gratitude than real affection, which she had transferred to the lover lost in the bombing. When Richard suggests a book featuring a collage of Sarah’s photographs and James’ written recollections, the flaws in their relationship are exposed.
The performances, directed by Daniel Sullivan, are good and Linney particularly masters sarcastic tones that make even one-word responses very funny. While I found Margulies’ play interesting because it touches upon ethics questions long a part of my life as a journalist, I’m not sure the regular theater-goer will be so interested as there isn’t much plot other than exploring the minds of the characters. At the end of Act One, I wondered why we needed an Act 2. Margulies does comes through with an interesting second half, but again, perhaps only if you’re interested in the journalistic questions that arise.

Sarah is feisty, and a talented photographer, but pretty rude and self-absorbed and we wonder what James and Richard (never mind the dead interpreter) ever saw in her. Mandy, who wishes James and Sarah could see beauty instead of misery all the time, seems to be the smartest one around.

The apartment set created by John Lee Beatty is rather drab with a few “exotic” pieces presumably from some of the couple’s overseas travels scattered about, but lacks any touches you would expect from a photographer with an artistic eye who has lived there for years, like maybe some photographs. Could it be that this is evidence of Sarah’s lack of involvement in the relationship? Perhaps.

Time Stands Still plays through March 27 at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre, 261 West 47th St., NYC. Tickets are available by visiting http://www.manhattantheatreclub.com/. Special discounted group tickets are available for friends of Masterwork Productions at http://www.givenik.com/?code=Masterworks.

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