Reviewed by Judy Richter
Critically injured by a roadside
bomb in Iraq, a photojournalist returns home to her Brooklyn loft to
recuperate. She's accompanied by her longtime live-in lover, a foreign
correspondent who has witnessed the horrors of combat, too. As they try to
recover, they look closely at their relationship and consider the future. Thus Donald
Margulies'
"Time Stands Still" unfolds in TheatreWorks' riveting regional premiere.
Her
left arm in a sling, her left leg braced, her right arm using a crutch and her
body scarred, Rebecca Dines plays the photojournalist, Sarah Goodwin. Mark
Anderson Phillips portrays
her lover, James Dodd. In her richly nuanced performance, Dines conveys Sarah's
physical and emotional pain, while Phillips slowly reveals the strains of
James's post-traumatic stress disorder.
They're
occasionally visited by another couple, Richard Ehrlich (Rolf Saxon) and Mandy Bloom (Sarah Moser). A longtime friend of Sarah and
James, Richard also is a magazine photo editor who has professional ties to
them. Mandy is his new girlfriend, much younger and -- initially -- quite
naive, even ditzy. Over the several months covered by the play, however, Moser
shows that Mandy is a stronger, more complex woman than meets the eye. Saxon's
Richard is both tactful and caring with his two friends and loving with Mandy.
Eventually
Sarah and James reach a crossroads in their relationship, when they must decide
what to do next. Both gain insight into what they their careers. "I live
off the suffering of strangers," Sarah laments. Nevertheless, she seems to
thrive on the adventure and to believe idealistically that the images she
captures can somehow make a difference.
Under
the expert guidance of director Leslie Martinson, all four actors contribute to
the brilliance of this fascinating play and production. Although Erik Flatmo's high-ceilinged set swallows a
few lines, it does capture the ambience of an urban loft. The costumes are by Anna
R. Oliver with
lighting by Michael Palumbo and sound by Gregory Robinson. The makeup artist isn't
credited but deserve kudos for Dines's realistic-looking wounds.