14 September 2017
Oslo
The National Theatre
reviewed by Adam McCormack
Oslo, a new play by J T Rogers, takes two big risks. The first is whether the subject matter, clandestine meetings to try to achieve peace in the Middle East, is one that can hold the attention of theatre audiences – for many the situation is seemingly insoluble and impossible to understand. The second is to navigate a topic that is highly sensitive and, although set almost 25 years ago, is still painfully real. It is then a brilliant achievement to produce a play that, for 3 hours, keeps everyone on the edge of their seats and manages, as far as I can tell, to strike a balance in delivering the views of both sides without letting us off the hook in thinking that a long-term solution has been found.
Terje Rod-Larsen (played to perfection by Toby Stephens) is a businessman and founder of a think tank who, despite being highly egotistical and something of a dilettante, has strong views on how to negotiate peace in the Middle East. He believes that the high level talks in Geneva are approaching the process in the wrong way by having all of the issues out in the open at the outset – making any progress impossible. He advocates a gradualism, where agreement is reached point by point, with both sides making minor concessions along the way, until something workable is achieved. To this end, behind the back of the Norwegian Foreign Minister, he orchestrates clandestine meetings between Palestinian Liberation Organisation officials and two Israeli economists in Oslo (it is illegal in Israel for any politician to meet the PLO). The process is painstaking, but ultimately gets to a stage where the Israeli government does engage and, after a farcical evening where Terje acts as intermediary using two phones at the same time, Yasser Arafat and Shimon Peres agree the peace process which results in a handshake in front of the White House.
Oslo is perfectly paced. Whenever there is a risk of getting bogged down in angry exchanges that appear to be going nowhere there is an injection of humour, with regular joke telling (and ridicule of Terje) by the delegates, or drama as the anger threatens to become physical. Lydia Leonard as Mona, Terje’s wife, is perfect in her role as pacifier and the voice of reason – delivering timely, witty and helpful asides to the audience. Peter Polycarpu as the Palestinian negotiator Ahmed Qurie, and Philip Arditti as Uri Savir for the Israelis, convey passion, anger and friendship in equal measure and to great effect. The sets are effective, with a Scandinavian efficiency, and our understanding and empathy is helped by the occasional use of a film footage backdrop.
Oslo manages to be both funny and moving, while leaving us feeling that we have a better understanding of the issues. The success of the process generates a somewhat pyrrhic elation – and the post-scripts leave us in no doubt that the meetings in Oslo were either nothing more than the first steps on a long journey or, in failing to include opposing factions in Palestine and Israel by being so clandestine, never likely to produce a lasting peace. Nevertheless, the overriding feeling is that progress in a dispute is never possible unless both sides are able to sit down and talk – a sentiment that has a great resonance for so many issues beyond that of the Middle East.
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