Before watching this 90-minute one-woman tour-de-force I knew nothing of the life of Golda Meir, nothing of how the country of Israel was born, nothing of the struggles and obstacles in the way of her becoming the Israeli Prime Minister. Basically it was, for me, a history lesson. But that doesn't mean that it was boring and uninteresting, no, far from it... it was highly informative and heartfelt. Oh, if only history lessons at school could have been like this, I'd have known so much more of our past.
The filming of this live performance at the Manhattan Ensemble Theater in New York has immortalised actress Tovah Feldshuh's record-breaking and utterly brilliant performance. It is the longest running one-woman show in Broadway history, and now is a multi-award-winning film, already having garnered 21 'Audience Choice Awards'.
Feldshuh plays 45 different characters in this performance, including Ben-Gurion, Henry Kissinger, King Habdullah, and holocaust victims among them. Her character changes are minimal, just a slight vocal or physical change is enough; never a caricature, never even an attempt to accurately impersonate, just a hint of a different person, and yet it is enough; more than enough, we never lose thread, we always keep up and know exactly who is who, and we follow her story hanging on her every word. Feldshuh is a remarkable actress, and her perfomance here is spine-chilling, exciting, but human, above everything, it is human, Sincere, with heart and integrity, but with typical Jewish humour. Yes, there's a deal of that in the script and in her delivery too; that's what makes it even more sympathetic and engaging.
Feldshuh mostly though plays Golda Meir. For those who don't know, myself included, Meir grew up in the pogroms of Russia, lived in poverty in the USA, moved to |Palestine and helped form the country of Israel becoming it's fourth Prime Minister. She lived through both world wars as well as the religious warring in the Bible lands. She's a intelligent stateswoman, a great teacher, and she knows what is necessary to acheive her aims. The play documents the life of Meir as well as perhaps the most important event in modern Jewish history; as Meir / Feldshuh states, after 2000 years of exile, everything they have fought for has finally come to fruition, and they have their homeland back. And Feldshuh's storytelling ability, commitment and power is phenomenal.
The play was written by William Gibson and directed by Scott Schwartz. The set, a small interior centred between rubble was simplistic but perfect, and designed by Anna Louizon, whilst lighting and sound complimented and gave gravitas to the story with aplomb (Howell Binkley and Mark Bennett). But it was Feldshuh's performance which will stay with me for a very long time after watching this film - available on Vimeo.
One line (no, there were MANY lines) which stood out was this:
"Shalom and Salaam: so little difference in the way we say 'peace'".
Reviewer - Chris Benchley
on - 6/5/20
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