GOLDA'S BALCONY. To 28 June.
London.
GOLDA’S BALCONY
by William Gibson.
Shaw Theatre 100-110 Euston Road NW1 2AJ To 28 June 2008.
17-19; 22-26; 28 June 7.30pm Mat 22, 25 June 3.30pm.
Runs 1hr 30min No interval.
TICKETS: 0871 594 3123.
www.theshawtheatre.com
Review: Timothy Ramsden 15 June.
Remarkable performance of a remarkable life.
Costume, wig and prosthetics: they sure intend to get this right. Understandably. Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir died 30 years ago, but memories are vivid and photos abound, so appearances have to be deceptive. But externals alone aren’t enough. William Gibson’s play delves into the old Golda’s thought-processes, moving through more than 50 years in Israel, reaching back into memories of Milwaukee, Denver and Tsarist pogroms.
It dances between politics and the personal; though the former have a tendency to hustle the latter about. The focus is 1973’s Yom Kippur War, a tough call even for the woman who had persuaded childless adults in a 1940s displacement camp to surrender their allocated turn to leave for Israel in favour of those with children.
For Yom Kippur brings, Gibson claims, the decision to arm Israeli planes with nuclear weapons. Only last minute American arms prevented a nuclear catastrophe being acted-out. This from a woman who notes, visiting Transjordan’s King Abdullah in the late 1940s, that “Shalom” and “Salaam” mean the same and sound so alike.
The pursuit of peace, so near yet so far, and so-far unobtainable, is accompanied by sharp-etched detail. Like Margaret Thatcher, this Iron Maiden could feel sorrow for individuals, such as the death in the Yom Kippur fighting of a boy she’d met at the camp decades before.
While the script’s important, no such show will be more than a clever impersonation unless the performer understands her character inside-out. Tovah Feldshuh has such understanding in spades – clubs, hearts and diamonds too. Talking to us as the ‘phone and bombs alternately go off, Feldshuh shows the combination of character elements – determination, purpose, judgement – making their way through events which are all placed in the perspective of a homeland for Jewish people.
Details strike home; how difficult the name Israel was to come by among others proposed, for example. But, under moments of personal humour or political decision-making, the main theme is evident as her voice breaks for a second while describing the significance of the state of Israel: a home for the first time in two thousand years.
Golda Meir: Tovah Feldshuh.
Director: Scott Schwarz.
Design Consultant: Anna Louizos.
Lighting: Jeff Croiter.
Sound: Robert Kaplowitz.
Projections: Batwin & Robin Productions Inc.
Costume: Jess Goldstein.
Wig: Paul Huntley.
Prosthetics: Louie Zakarian.
Assistant director: Nell Balaban.
Associate lighting: Joel E Silver.
2008-06-16 01:33:10