SOURCE: "A Theater Marking Time," in The New Republic, Vol. 184, No. 13, 28 March 1981, pp. 23-4.

In this review, Brustein admires Mann's intentions in Still Life, but contends that since "the characters are essentially self-involved, their perceptions never seem to rise much above domestic homilies, as if the major significance of the greatest tragedy in America's recent history was its impact on sex and marriage."

Emily Mann's Still Life (American Place Theater) is a serious effort to involve us with a searing contemporary issue—namely, the impact of the Vietnam War on the personal and domestic lives of the Americans involved in it. Out of a series of interviews with a Vietnam veteran, his wife, and his mistress, Miss Mann has carved a succession of monologues. All three characters sit facing us at a table, pouring out confessions. The evening has the ring of unadorned truth—also, unfortunately, its monotony...