Stars shine in ‘Time Stands Still,’ a modern tale of love and war

A simple hug is an unlikely culmination for two and a half hours of relationship drama. However, that is exactly what occurs in the climax of Pulitzer Prize winner Donald Margulies’ new play “Time Stands Still,” a deceptively simple drama that examines the effects of war journalism on relationships.

Margulies is an actor’s writer, focusing his plays not on pithy dialogue and flowery language but on painfully realistic human relationships. As such, his work relies on the prowess of his cast, which here is in top form. Laura Linney brings her innate grace to the character of Sarah, a war photographer removed from the field after suffering severe injuries from a roadside bomb. The play begins as her husband James, played by Brian D’Arcy James in the performance of his career, happily brings Sarah back home after months overseas under the false assumption that she’s finally ready to settle down. Rounding out the cast is playwright-turned-actor Eric Bogosian as their newspaper editor and Alicia Silverstone, still in “Clueless”-mode, playing Bogosian’s very young fiancée.

War journalism’s popularity has been on the rise since the Vietnam War, reaching an all time high this past decade with the war on terror. Surprisingly, there have been very few plays covering this phenomenon, which is why the subject feels so fresh in the hands of Margulies. A true modernist piece, the play unfolds in real-time, slowly revealing the devastating effects the constant adrenaline rush of war journalism can have upon those returning to their comfortable lives at home.

In fact, the play is realistic almost to a fault. Instead of including theatrically conventional scenes of high drama and emotional involvement, the play feels like it was torn out of the pages of reality. Though admirable, such an insistence on keeping the play grounded prevents the audience from becoming emotionally invested. As such, the work succeeds mostly on an intellectual level.

Yet the level of intellectual probing almost makes up for what the play lacks in theatrical emotion. Margulies’ insight into the adrenaline-addicted psyche of a war journalist will especially hit home with journalism majors considering a life in the field. Coincidentally enough, Sarah and James fell in love during college over of their shared passion for documenting the world, a love which in the end nearly tears them apart.