Tim Altmeyer and Erika Rolfsrud. Photo by Lanny Nagler.
Much coverage has been given to the
problems that combat veterans face during and after their service. Through
countless news articles and television specials we have become aware that these
young men and women may, as a result of what they have experienced in a war
zone, suffer depression, anxiety and Post-traumatic Stress Disorder. Little
attention, however, has been given to those who cover these conflicts – the
journalists and photographers who, in words and pictures, attempt to capture
“the horror” of war. They are witnesses to carnage, cruelty and chaos, yet
must, at least on the surface, maintain objectivity. The price for doing so can
be great.
Such is the subject of “Time Stands
Still,” a gripping play by Pulitzer Prize-winner Donald Margulies that recently
opened at Hartford TheaterWorks under the very capable direction of TheaterWorks’
artistic director Rob Ruggiero.
This 2010 Tony Award Nominee for
Best Play, set in a loft in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn in 2009, opens
with James (Tim Altmeyer) assisting Sarah (Erika Rolfsrud) into the loft, for
she, a photojournalist, has just returned from Iraq where she was seriously
wounded in a roadside bombing incident – her face is scarred, an arm is in a
sling and she has a cast on her right leg. Not long after their entrance it
becomes obvious that all is not well in this non-marital relationship that has
lasted for over eight years – one of the initial flashpoints being that James,
a journalist, left Iraq after experiencing a searing incident in which children
were violently killed, his body becoming covered in their blood and viscera.
Sarah stayed behind until she was injured.
But the couple’s problems run
deeper, for while in Iraq alone, Sarah had a relationship with their “fixer,” an
Iraqi “guide” of sorts, a relationship James is aware of…but bubbling beneath
all of this is Sarah’s continuing commitment to her job and James’ slow
realization that he now wants to lead a “normal,” “comfortable” life. It is out
of this tension that Marguiles has crafted an often riveting, multi-dimensional
drama that deals with both the physical and mental scars of war, the “ethic” of
the journalist covering that war, and the mindset of those who must write about
or photograph the cruelty that is the nature of combat, especially the
devastating impact the conflict can have on civilians.
Matthew Boston and Liz Holman. Photo by Lanny
Nagler
Adding fuel to the fire is the
appearance of the two journalists’ editor, Richard, (Matthew Boston) and his
companion, Mandy (Liz Holtan), a woman, an event planner, much younger than
Richard. The graying editor is obviously smitten. Sarah, and to a lesser
extent, James are initially disdainful of this May-October relationship, but as
my play-going partner pointed out, Marguiles uses this initial reaction as one
of the means by which he chronicles the changes that James, and especially
Sarah (who ‘softens’ as the evening progresses), undergo.
As these four characters interact
in the loft, beautifully crafted by set designer Luke Hegel-Cantarella and
creatively lit (including a final, fitting black-out) by John Lasiter, the
audience is challenged to deal with the cost – and the morality behind –
delivering the news seen on television or read about in newspapers or magazines.
The major problem, as Mandy points out in an emotionally charged scene (using
an anecdote about an elephant and her baby caught in a sandstorm, a segment of
a documentary she saw), is that to capture the story or the image the
journalist must stand aloof, remain uninvolved, as people are suffering and
dying. Mandy asks Sarah how she can just stand there; why doesn’t she help?
Sarah’s answer is that by doing her job she is
helping – James is no longer so sure.
Ruggiero has directed this quartet
of outstanding actors with an eye towards pacing that is, at moments,
breathtaking, especially during the numerous arguments as the actors bite into
each other’s lines in a manner anyone who has had a heated verbal conversation
with a friend or loved one will find totally believable.
Though some of the questions
Marguiles raises are answered, and there is resolution of sorts for at least
three of the characters, the core question of the ethical nature of what
journalists must do to ‘get’ the story is left up to the audience to decide,
for though James has found a certain peace, Sarah clings to her first love,
which at the end of the show she grips with all of her strength as she looks
through the aperture and, for a moment, time stands still for her.
The play runs through Sept. 15.
Tickets: 860-527-7838 or go to www.theatderworkshartford.org
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