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'Golda's
Balcony' gripping story Actress
persuaded to take role, delivers forceful performance By
Kerry Clawson Published
on It's a good thing Neil Thackaberry is
persistent. The Actors' Summit director worked for two years to talk actress
Dorothy Silver into performing the role of the legendary Golda Meir in
Golda's Balcony, which couldn't be a more natural fit for the esteemed
Jewish, Northeast Ohio actress. Plenty of hard work, skill and talent
have gone into Silver making the role of Israel's prime minister seem so natural
in this gripping one-woman show. In the hands of a lesser actress, the
95-minute, intermissionless piece would be grueling. In a talk-back session
after the show, Silver said she lived with William Gibson's script once a day
for several months to absorb Meir's essence before rehearsals started.
Co-directed by her husband, Reuben, and
Thackaberry, Silver creates an emotionally forceful character in a dark, thick
wig as her scratchy-voiced Meir looks back on her life's work, culminating in
the darkest days of her political career. Golda's Balcony is pegged to
Meir's turning point as prime minister: the difficult decisions she faced in her
effort to save Israel during the Yom Kippur War of 1974.
Golda's Balcony flashes back and forth to show Meir's evolution as a
political figure. That includes her childhood days surviving the Russian
pogroms, her political awakening in Denver and Milwaukee, her Zionist work in
Palestine, and her various political offices once the Israeli state was
established. Through Silver's fine-tuned
characterization, we see the history of the Jewish state unfold through the eyes
of a remarkable leader who helped create it. Silver has said that for the play
to work, Meir's strength and utter devotion to her work must come alive.
Her Meir is deeply serious, dryly funny
and highly driven. Through the force of Silver's emotion, there is no question
that Meir's singular goal is the redemption of the human race through the
preservation of the Jewish state. That mission came at a personal
sacrifice for Meir, whose marriage to Morris Meyerson crumbled.
The play takes place on a simple stage
with a distressed-looking backdrop and two screens that look like blackboards
illuminating historical photos from Meir's life. Those visuals, essential to the
show, aren't nearly as fancy as the high-tech, sweeping images in the 2005 tour
that starred Valerie Harper. But they do justice to Gibson's work.
Golda's Balcony premiered on Broadway in 2003, starring Tovah
Feldshuh. Dramatic tension pervades Gibson's piece — updated from a failed
version in the 1970s — as Meir sits on a devastating Israeli secret: the
existence of an underground nuclear reactor at Dimona. After Israel is invaded,
Meir must decide whether Israel should use its nuclear weapons against Egypt and
Syria, possibly setting off a worldwide chain reaction.
Due to time, director Thackaberry has
trimmed a very telling anecdote revealing that Meir knew the Egyptians might
attack directly through her own daughter's kibbutz, but didn't warn her daughter
for national security reasons. This scene adds a different dimension to Meir's
larger-than-life character that some might not find admirable.
Gibson's show title, Golda's Balcony,
symbolizes two emotionally dramatic balconies in Meir's life — with one
vista representing joy, hope and a new beginning, and the other symbolizing
military might, war and destruction. The play's well-balanced tug of war
between themes of idealism and survival is not only a perfect metaphor for Meir
as a person, but also makes Zionist history come alive in an intimate
way. Staff writer Kerry Clawson may be reached by e-mail at kclawson@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx. See her theater
blog at http://kerryclawson.wordpress.com.
It's a good thing Neil Thackaberry
is persistent. The Actors' Summit director worked for two years to talk actress
Dorothy Silver into performing the role of the legendary Golda Meir in
Golda's Balcony, which couldn't be a more natural fit for the esteemed
Jewish, Northeast Ohio actress. Plenty of hard work, skill and
talent have gone into Silver making the role of Israel's prime minister seem so
natural in this gripping one-woman show. In the hands of a lesser actress, the
95-minute, intermissionless piece would be grueling. In a talk-back session
after the show, Silver said she lived with William Gibson's script once a day
for several months to absorb Meir's essence before rehearsals
started. Co-directed by her husband, Reuben,
and Thackaberry, Silver creates an emotionally forceful character in a dark,
thick wig as her scratchy-voiced Meir looks back on her life's work, culminating
in the darkest days of her political career. Golda's Balcony is pegged to
Meir's turning point as prime minister: the difficult decisions she faced in her
effort to save Israel during the Yom Kippur War of 1974. Golda's Balcony flashes back and forth to show
Meir's evolution as a political figure. That includes her childhood days
surviving the Russian pogroms, her political awakening in Denver and Milwaukee,
her Zionist work in Palestine, and her various political offices once the
Israeli state was established. Through Silver's fine-tuned
characterization, we see the history of the Jewish state unfold through the eyes
of a remarkable leader who helped create it. Silver has said that for the play
to work, Meir's strength and utter devotion to her work must come
alive. Her Meir is deeply serious, dryly
funny and highly driven. Through the force of Silver's emotion, there is no
question that Meir's singular goal is the redemption of the human race through
the preservation of the Jewish state. That mission came at a personal
sacrifice for Meir, whose marriage to Morris Meyerson
crumbled. The play takes place on a simple
stage with a distressed-looking backdrop and two screens that look like
blackboards illuminating historical photos from Meir's life. Those visuals,
essential to the show, aren't nearly as fancy as the high-tech, sweeping images
in the 2005 tour that starred Valerie Harper. But they do justice to Gibson's
work. Golda's Balcony premiered on Broadway in 2003,
starring Tovah Feldshuh. Dramatic tension pervades Gibson's piece — updated from
a failed version in the 1970s — as Meir sits on a devastating Israeli secret:
the existence of an underground nuclear reactor at Dimona. After Israel is
invaded, Meir must decide whether Israel should use its nuclear weapons against
Egypt and Syria, possibly setting off a worldwide chain
reaction. Due to time, director Thackaberry
has trimmed a very telling anecdote revealing that Meir knew the Egyptians might
attack directly through her own daughter's kibbutz, but didn't warn her daughter
for national security reasons. This scene adds a different dimension to Meir's
larger-than-life character that some might not find
admirable. Gibson's show title, Golda's
Balcony, symbolizes two emotionally dramatic balconies in Meir's life — with
one vista representing joy, hope and a new beginning, and the other symbolizing
military might, war and destruction. The play's well-balanced tug of war
between themes of idealism and survival is not only a perfect metaphor for Meir
as a person, but also makes Zionist history come alive in an intimate
way. Staff writer Kerry Clawson may be
reached by e-mail at kclawson@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx. See
her theater blog at http://kerryclawson.wordpress.com. Create a Home Theater Like the Pros. Watch the video on AOL Home. |