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From the West Side Leader Golda Meir lives again at Actors’
Summit By David Ritchey Dorothy Silver
‘excellent’ in ‘Golda’s Balcony’
HUDSON — Theater can’t be much
better than Dorothy Silver’s performance as Golda Meir in Actors’ Summit
Theater’s production of “Golda’s Balcony.” Silver is the only person on the
stage. As Golda Meir (1896-1978), the prime minister of Israel between 1969 and
1974, Silver is gold. What a performance! At the moment the curtain call
started, the audience was on its feet and
applauding. William Gibson wrote the script and
also is known for writing “The Miracle Worker” and “Two for the Seesaw.” Both
starred Anne Bancroft on Broadway and in the
movies. This is Gibson’s second version of
the Meir story. The first version, which was not successful, had several
characters on stage. In the version now playing at Actors’ Summit, Meir is the
only character on stage. This version played on Broadway for 15 months and soon
will be released as a feature film with Valerie Harper playing Meir. In this
version, the audience is aware of Meir’s conversations with her husband, Morris
Meyerson, and with Henry Kissinger, King Abdullah, her staff and others. Gibson
makes this character larger than life — yet Meir herself was larger than life.
Few women had Meir’s impact on the world. She was an idealist who thought
Israel could be carved out of the desert and become a homeland for the world’s
Jews. She was born in Kiev, Ukraine, but when she was 8, she moved to Milwaukee
with her family. In 1921, she moved to Palestine to join a kibbutz. She moved
upward through the political ranks in Israel until she was elected, in 1969, as
the prime minister of Israel. She died in 1978 in Jerusalem of lymphatic
cancer. The set, designed by Actors’
Summit’s co-artistic director, Neil Thackaberry, includes several levels, with
desks on two levels and a table with teapot and cups on a third level. This
simple set provides a kitchen table or resting place and two offices for one of
the most powerful women to ever have lived. Co-directors Reuben Silver and
Thackaberry had the good sense to get out of Dorothy Silver’s way and let her
glorious talent shine through. Reuben and Dorothy Silver have been married a
long time and have appeared in many productions together. Their influences on
each other’s performances cannot be measured or discovered at this point in
their lives. We can only be thankful that these two wonderfully talented people
have decided to live their lives in the Cleveland area and perform where we can
see their work. Dorothy Silver’s beautiful,
crystal-like voice zooms and soars as she describes Golda’s marriage to
Meyerson, her children and her fight to preserve her beloved
Israel. Silver seems to approach a role
from the inside out. She knows the character, the characteristics of her
character and then adds on the exterior movements of the
character. Those of us who have been fortunate
to see her in other productions know Silver is a consummate actress. Simply
stated — it doesn’t get any better than Dorothy Silver as Golda
Meir. “Golda’s Balcony” plays through
April 13. For tickets, call David Ritchey has a Ph.D. in
communications and is a professor of communications at The University of Akron.
He is a member of the American Theatre Critics
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