By David Gordon, Managing Editor

Manhattan Theatre Club’s stages are currently playing home two very fascinating New York premieres, Donald Margulies’ “Time Stands Still,” at the Friedman on Broadway and Bill Cain’s “Equivocation,” at New York City Center.

“Time Stands Still” is a variation on a very common genre: the war play. The battlefield is a loft apartment in Brooklyn; the soldiers are a photojournalist, a print journalist, their editor and his considerably younger girlfriend.

Laura Linney (wonderful, as usual) is Sarah Goodwin, the photojournalist in question, returning home from a hospital in Germany after recuperating from injuries suffered in a bombing in Iraq some months earlier. Her long-time boyfriend, James Dodd (Brian d’Arcy James, late of “Shrek”), has his own demons, suffering a breakdown a short-time before Sarah’s accident. It’s easy to see the direction the play will take: Sarah, despite scars and a bad leg, wants to go back to the frontlines as soon as she heals; James wants to settle down. In agreement with him are their editor, Richard (Eric Bogosian) and his new girlfriend Mandy (Alicia Silverstone).

The cast is unbeatable and, with Daniel Sullivan’s sensitive direction, elevate the play from “alright” to “excellent.” The foursome gives elegant, well-thought-out performances. Perhaps the biggest surprise is Silverstone, who endows Mandy with such a kind soul that we actually feel bad laughing at the character’s shallow surface.

“Equivocation,” takes us back to 1606. William Shakespeare (called “Shag”) is commissioned by King James I’s right-hand man Robert Cecil to create the official play about the Gunpowder Plot of 1605. And there must be witches.

Naturally, Shag (played by a very, very strong John Pankow) has problems in writing, but must do it anyway to avoid the very painful executions of the time. There are two results: a stinker about the Gunpowder Plot and “Macbeth.” Guess which one gets performed.

The Irish director Garry Hines stages the work – written by Cain in modern American English – and creates a deeply spooky atmosphere. Metal doors slam and light bulbs hanging all over the theater (sets were designed by Francis O’Connor, lights by David Weiner) rise and dim. Cast standouts also include Michael Countryman (as leading actor Richard Burbage and Father Henry Garnet), David Pittu (at the top of his game as Cecil) and Charlotte Parry in the play’s most fascinating role and side-story, Shag’s daughter Judith.

She spends the play vying for her father’s attention, up against the memory of her dead twin brother Hamnet. What title does that name sound like?

Laura Linney and Brian d’Arcy James share a moment in Donald Margulies’ “Time Stands Still.” (Photo courtesy of Boneau/Bryan-Brown)