BWW Reviews: Everything in Focus at TIME STANDS STILL

It's clear even before Time Stands Still begins that the show has been carefully designed to make us ponder the effects of war. Before the actors take the stage, clips of the war-torn Middle East are projected on the stage, including images of children being indoctrinated into ISIS.

It's impossible for these images to not have an effect on the viewer, and the same can be said for the play itself. The Tony-nominated drama, now playing at Austin Playhouse, makes an unforgettable impact.

The play, written by Donald Margulies, is more than deserving of its Tony nomination. Over the course of two hours, Margulies weaves a complex and thought provoking yarn which examines personal relationships and our fascination with war. The play beings with war photographer Sarah (Molly Karrasch), coming back to New York after being injured by a roadside bomb in Iraq. As she recovers in the company of her boyfriend and fellow journalist, James (Brian Coughlin), their friend Richard (Huck Huckaby) and his significantly younger girlfriend Mandy (Jess Hughes), Sarah's ultimately faced with the choice to either remain safe, though unfulfilled, in New York or go back to the excitement and danger of Iraq. It's remarkable that the play is effective as it is. Margulies has, somehow, created a gripping piece about war that focuses not on soldiers or their families but on the outside observer. It's a perspective not often shown on stage, and that's what makes the play so compelling.

As Sarah, Molly Karrasch gives a sensational performance. While Karrasch never gives a disappointing performance, she's often cast in comedic rather than dramatic roles, but she's brilliant as the cynical, moody Sarah. Brian Coughlin manages to keep the guilt-stricken character of James from veering into whiny or wimpy territory. When opposite each other, it's difficult to decide what to make of them. There's tenderness and love between them at times and a deep-rooted coldness at others, a paradox laid in Margulies's text but dependent on the performances of Karrasch and Coughlin. The pair even take a well-worn subplot and mold it into some of the most explosive, intense scene work I've seen in Austin or anywhere else, for that matter. Huck Huckaby does a fine job with the character of Richard, though he clearly has the least amount of material to work with, and Jess Hughes is extraordinary as the overly perky Mandy. The only non-journalist of the bunch, she initially comes off a bit ditzy and vague, but it becomes apparent over the course of the evening that she's more than meets the eye.

TIME STANDS STILL plays Austin Playhouse, inside the Highland Mall at 6001 Airport Blvd, Austin 78752 now thru October 19th. Performances are Thursday - Saturday at 8pm and Sunday at 5pm. Tickets are $28-$30. For tickets and information, please visit www.austinplayhouse.com

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