While in New York, I had a chance to see Donald Marguiles’ Tony nominated play “Time Stands Still,” which reopened on Broadway at the Cort Theater.
The lead character Sarah Goodwin, (Lara Linney) is a photographer recovering from injuries suffered on the job while shooting. She uses sarcasm and unassailable hardiness to suppress her real emotions. In contrast to Sarah’s rather cold character, her boyfriend, James Dodd (Brian d’Arcy James) is over comforting and unnaturally pleasing. Despite being somewhat of a pushover, Dodd accompanied Sarah as a journalist on their last mission, but had to leave prior to the accident that almost killed her. As a result, Dodd feels guilty about his girlfriend’s injuries and caters to her every whim.
Richard (Eric Bogosnian), the editor and closest friend of Sarah and James, has fallen in love with Mandy Bloom, a naive half his age (Christina Ricci replacing Alicia Silverstone).
As the plot unfolds, all characters reveal hidden secrets. Goodwin is especially interesting in her attempt to cope with the gore and tragedy of war as a professional photographer, while remaining impartial to all the suffering she is portraying. Surrounded by violence, she stays neutral to the chaos around her, while taking powerful images of the unthinkable. While innocent Mandy cries over the fate of a lost elephant she saw in the Discovery channel, Goodwin explains how she must remain calm and emotionless while shooting volatile situations.
Despite her cool, the near death experience forces Goodwin to evaluate other options as a documentary photographer. After attempting to work in the city and trying on a role of dutiful wife, Sarah quickly realizes that she does not want to live a stereotypical family life and instead yearns to return to the atrocities of war. Her motivation for returning to violence, however, is left unclear.
Unfortunately, the play failed to explore Goodwin’s search for meaning and only touched on her dedication to the job, without explaining why she feels compelled to document brutality. As a result, her motives for documenting war were doubtful. Rather, Goodwin’s struggle with embracing the normal life became the focus of this play.
The drama on stage unfolded around human emotions and failed relationships. Meeting inside a luxurious apartment, characters searched for their individual “way of life”, while taking a stab at love despite incompatibility of their personalities.
The caliber of the performances in this play was superb. Linney and Bogosnian were especially remarkable in portraying the depth of their characters. It is evident that they have grown accustomed to this play, reaching deep inside the layers of the people they are portraying on stage.
Brian d’Arcy James was excellent, but unconvincing mainly due to a flawed character he was portraying. Ricci was good in this debut, but could stand to tone down her enthusiasm just a little.
Unfortunately, the plot failed to deliver a deeper message and fell flat somewhere in the second act around Dodd’s feeble attempts to convince Sarah to stay in a marriage she did not want in the first place. To make matters worse, Mandy remained perfectly gullible encouraging Richard to adore her seemingly innocent idealism, which frequently bordered idiocy. From this point forward, the plot remained unconvincing as it was difficult to imagine Richard settling with someone dumb and equally hard to believe Dodd. In the end, Mandy gave birth to a baby and decided to stay at home, Richard was still foolishly happy, Sarah was predictably off to war ( to continue hiding behind violence), while Jame’s character’s gave up brutality in exchange for moving in with his new Indian girlfriend only two months after dating. In other words, implausibly, everyone found what they sought and remained satisfied with the choices made. I found this “happy end” rather banal and fantastic.
Nonetheless, the actors were well deserving of the standing ovation they received.
What this play attempted to do is done well in two separate films: drama Closer (2004) and documentary War Photographer (2001). It seemed as though Donald Marguiles could not decide whether to explore the complexity of relationships between two couples or the psychological drama behind being a war documentarian. Consequently, I felt rather empty after seeing superb acting come to a dead halt.
Conclusion: the first act of the play is well worth seeing and Linney is terrific throughout the play.
Location: Cort Theater, 138 West 48th Street, Manhattan
Running time: two hours.
No comments:
Post a Comment