Time's Arrow

Time's Arrow is an intense exploration of the effects of 'survivor guilt' on two people whose lives were spared in a plane crash. Simon (Mike McEvoy) was the only passenger to walk away from the crash but not before he witnessed the unimaginable suffering of fellow passengers. It is a scenario that plays in the minds of anyone who uses air travel, and it's fascinating to have an intimate insight into Simon's journey as he begins counselling sessions with Laura (Christina Costigan). McEvoy is believable as a man seeking deliverance from his nightmares. His scenes with Costigan are the most successful, especially the moment when he describes the crash in graphic detail to her. The writing is particularly strong when Simon attempts to make sense of what he saw, and what he feels about life now. Time's Arrow makes us ask ourselves how we would cope if we witnessed such a tragedy.

The play flies into turbulence (excuse the pun) with Simon's relationship with Kelly (Cindy Elliott), the air stewardess who was supposed to be on the doomed plane. Kelly falls sick the night before the flight and asks a friend to replace her. In early scenes, the two appear to find comfort and possible redemption out of the tragedy. Simon's description of his first moments alone with her are tender and beautifully written, and their relationship makes sense. But as Simon confronts his 'monsters' in therapy, and his counsellor is happy enough with his progress, his relationship with Kelly grows masochistic. In one scene, Simon grabs Kelly and tells her, ominously, that she never paid her friend back for swapping flights with her. All the tenderness he'd described to the counsellor is gone. It appears Simon and Kelly are acting out their survivor guilt through sex, with Simon in a dominant and potentially abusive role. It raises all sorts of questions about Simon's character, his motivations for seeing Kelly, and vice versa. Yet this explosive development is never touched upon again, to the play's detriment.

It is Kelly's role in particular that is under-written, and deserves a better place in the play. Simon is treated as the priority, and this is reinforced by the counsellor, who refuses to work with Kelly. There may be ethical reasons why the counsellor refers Kelly to another therapist. But there has to be more to Kelly than getting food poisoning, missing a plane crash, and having sex with one of the survivors. She actually has to live with the fact her friend died because of her actions, and that would be shattering. We don't get to see below the surface with Kelly, and it is hard to relate to her.

There doesn't have to be a happy ending, or resolution for Simon and Kelly, but it's important to know much more about why they came together, and what they wanted from each other.

Sara Bannister

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