Theater Review: A Sign of The Times Is An Existential Journey
Stephen Lloyd Helper’s A Sign of The Times focuses on one of the most precious, precarious things we all have: time. Some days and years pour like water, while others can feel as slow as a snail. We define our life according to time: the periods of highs and lows we thought we earned and the ones we never excepted. For better or worse, life is a seesaw that can crush us with its mundaneness or humble us with its beauty, which is why Javier Muñoz captivates as a traffic controller going through an existential crisis: both on Heaven and Earth.
A Sign of The Times is by all means a dense play; filled with philosophies and nuggets of wisdom that can be unpacked for days. Yet, it all pulped into 90 minutes that depend on Javier Muñoz’s charisma and inherent warmness to get audience to absorb its depth. With lighting design by Caitlin Smith Rapoport and sound design by David Van Tieghem supplies the literal cosmic journey Muñoz must undertake to bring his character to a surprising conclusion: his own arrogance. Yes, this man is loving, patient, and friendly, but he is also angry, confused, and depressed over why life has been so cruel to him and his family.
Of course, as an audience member, you wonder how anyone in The Universe could think his journey needed more humility, but Helper’s script finds nuance in revealing that arrogance is not just believing you are better than others; its believing that you are safer than them. Life elevate your and drop you within a second. Thus, this traffic controller may be affable and filled with wonder over how time works, both scientifically and spiritually, but all that seems to fade when it comes to confronting his traumas. Like most people, he stumped at why harm could come to him and the ones he loves when they are good people. After all, if I never hurt others, why do I still have wounds?
For Helper, life is suffering and joy, but you would be a fool to ignore either. In this impactful epiphany, which occurs in the end, the A Sign of The Times finds its freshness and regains a second wind. Thus, A Sign of The Times is a show to see if you love smart monologues, and are ready to take a detailed, deep dive into what it Time and how its definition pushes us to define ourselves in love, healing, and wonder. A Sign of The Times plays till April 4th at 511 Theater: located 511 W 54th St New York, 10019. Click Here To Buy Tickets.
