[NEohioPAL] Review of "Time Stands Still" at Dobama Theatre

Bob Abelman r.abelman at adelphia.net
Sat Sep 7 17:20:35 PDT 2013


Love is a battlefield in Dobama's 'Time Stands Still'



Bob Abelman

News-Herald, Chagrin Valley Times, Solon Times, Geauga Times Courier

Member, International Association of Theatre Critics 

 

This review will appear in the News-Herald on 9/13/13

 

 

Each time our nation involves itself in one more Middle East crisis, we tend to think of embedded members of the press - if we think of them at all - as renegade journalists and heroic purveyors of the truth.   In playwright Donald Margulies' engaging 2009 drama "Time Stands Still," they are casualties of war.   

 

The play focuses on two correspondents in particular: Sarah, a driven front-line photographer badly injured in Iraq by a roadside bomb, and her reporter boyfriend, James, whose scars are just as deep but psychological in nature.  Both return home to heal, but Sarah is restless and eager to get back to the action, while James has resigned himself to a more sedate and secure existence. 

 

"Time Stands Still" most certainly addresses the inhumanity and atrocities of war, but it never becomes the kind of play that preaches its politics.  Instead, recurring themes nearer and dearer to Margulies' heart persevere.  

 

As he does in the Pulitzer Prize-winning "Dinner With Friends," this play is about personal loss and mortality.  

 

Like "The Model Apartment," it explores the lingering effect of trauma and how it invades all aspects of daily life.  

 

As did "Collected Stories," this play examines the parasitic nature of writing and the guilt associated with making a living off the sorrows and suffering of strangers.   

 

It does these many things admirably but fails to do them thoroughly.  One theme fades just when it starts getting good, giving way to another.  

 

When the dust settles, however, this play about war reveals most consistently and satisfactorily what 1980s songstress Pat Benatar told us long ago: that love is a battlefield.  Sarah and James are the walking wounded alright, but it is unclear which warzone produced the most collateral damage.

 

The Dobama Theatre production of "Time Stands Still," under Nathan Motta's sensitive and flawless direction, is particularly adept at paring down the big themes so that a very intimate piece of storytelling unfolds.   Motta's designers - Jill Davis (scenic), Marcus Dana (lighting), Tom Linsenmeier (sound) and Tesia Benson (costume) - facilitate this process by creating an inviting up-scale apartment in the close quarters of the Dobama floor-space.  The staging immediately brings audience members into Sarah and James' world and holds them there.  

 

As Sarah, Heather Anderson Boll is so intense, abrasive and tightly wound that she would be inaccessible and unattractive if not for those brilliant, well-timed pauses in her delivery that reveal - for a fleeting moment - her character's astounding vulnerability and the depths of her damaged soul.  It is tempting not to look away from Boll's Sarah for fear of missing something remarkable, but if you do you will find that those surrounding her are just as compelling.  

 

David Bugher's tender depiction of James gives authenticity to the love he and Sarah share and credibility to the survivor's guilt he feels from being state-side at the time of her accident.  James' slow but steady lapse into depression and hopelessness reflects some fine and heart-felt acting.

 

To help accentuate all that is wrong between Sarah and James, the playwright introduces Richard, Sarah's adoring photo editor and mentor, and his much younger, overtly optimistic new girlfriend, Mandy, into the mix.  They also add much needed humor to an otherwise sober storyline.

 

The clever and deceptively casual dialogue Margulies provides for Richard and Mandy could be easily played for the laugh, or the turning point, or the point of comparison it is meant to provide and still be effective.   But Peter Aylward and Llewie Nunez bring added dimension and richness to these characters and never take the easy route.  Their performances are nicely nuanced and always interesting.  

 

All may not be fair in love and war, but working both inequities into one play makes for an entertaining and engaging piece of theater.

 

"Time Stands Still" runs through October 6 at Dobama Theatre, 2340 Lee Road, Cleveland Heights. For tickets, which range from $10 to $26, call 216-932-3396 or visit www.dobama.org.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.neohiopal.org/pipermail/neohiopal-neohiopal.org/attachments/20130907/bc8d03eb/attachment.htm>


More information about the NEohioPAL mailing list