photo: Joan Marcus
In Time Stands Still, an expertly crafted drama of issues by Donald Margulies, Laura Linney gives the kind of performance about which theatre lovers dream: slow-boiling, committed, and exactingly realized. She is Sarah, a passionate photojournalist whose last assignment (covering the war) left her maimed but still invigorated. This dismays her longtime lover James (Brian d'Arcy James, excellent), a writer who is ready to get out of the combat zone and settle down in Brooklyn. Margulies wisely allows this conflict to play out leisurely through the first act, with the characters able to put all their feelings on the proverbial table. It makes for arresting theatre, and Linney and James more than convince as a couple whose love for each other might not be as strong as their professional drive. Their experience is mirrored in the play's second couple: Richard (Eric Bogosian, terrific in his long-awaited Broadway debut), Sarah's editor and former lover; and Mandy (a phenomenal Alicia Silverstone), his somewhat mindless young wife. Despite Sarah's manufactured contempt for them, you cannot help but notice James longing for a relationship like theirs. This well-crafted realization, along with many other factors, make this the first must-see new play of 2010.
Actually, Bogosian was on Broadway in Talk Radio, in the mid 90s, I think.
ReplyDeleteI got to see Time Stands Still a second time quite by lovely accident, and found it just as compelling the second time around.
He never did TALK RADIO on Broadway; only at the Public. I am planning a second visit soon--Linney's performance has stayed with me since I left the theatre and I need to see it again.
ReplyDeleteWoops, my bad. I conflated info about the revival and the original.
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