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Time Stands Still (2010)

by Donald Margulies(Favorite Author)

4.01 of 5 Votes: 5

ISBN

1559363657 (ISBN13: 9781559363655)

languge

English

genre

Poetry

publisher

Theatre Communications Group

review 1: One of the best modern plays I have ever read (and personally my favorite - I've been using one monologue in particular from it for about two years now for all sorts of auditions). This piece is so real in its dialogue and its not-so-happy ending - true to life as we know it today. Presents characters who have a definite side on an issue, but it's up for you to decide who is right and who is wrong - most of the time, they don't even know themselves. I would encourage people who don't usually read plays to read this one. Phenomenal.
review 2: Focusing on the recovery of a photojournalist (Sarah) injured in a roadside bombing in Iraq, Margulies's play is split roughly evenly between the "big" themes (the responsibility of journalists to their subjects; the moral ... moreimplications of witnessing atrocity from a distance) and the domestic drama of the central figure and her partner (Jamie/James), a word journalist who had left the combat zone a while before she was wounded. While Margulies doesn't have a lot to add to the discussion of the moral issues, he frames them in a clear manner that brings issues common in Vietnam literature up to date. His treatment of the characters' personal relationships, clearly intended to reflect on the moral issues, is quite a bit less successful. The couple he introduces as a foil for Sarah and James (Richard and Mandy) border on cardboard. It's possible that great actors could overcome the problems with the script, but it's nowhere near as good as Margulies' Collected Stories. Still waiting for the first effective play about Iraq/Afghanistan. The films (Restropo and The Wounded Platoon for instance) are way way out in front. less

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