Golda’s Balcony

Published Thursday 12 June 2008 at 11:50 by Paul Vale

In the midst of the Yom Kippur War, Golda Meir, prime minister of the burgeoning state of Israel, gives us an insight into the decisions she had to make throughout her life. There can be no doubt that this is a powerful story full of tension, drama and conflict that needs to be told.

Even as the audience enters the theatre, bags are checked, offering a timely reminder that the conflicts we are about to witness still resonate today. Tovah Feldshuh has won much acclaim on Broadway for this one-woman show and her passion for the subject is evident. The performance is slick and assured and Scott Schwartz’s fluid direction complements the piece perfectly. Much the same can be said of Anna Louizo’s atmospheric set, Golda’s smoke-filled centre of operations hewn from ancient rock offering, upon occasion, visual aids to her story.

Despite its provenance, the play itself turns out to be remarkably dull. Powerful events are at hand and epoch making decisions are being made with the charismatic Meir as a centre piece, and yet the whole thing is thoroughly disengaging. Gibson’s script touches on Meir’s upbringing and family life and ultimately these are the more accessible moments, offering the audience a connection to the subject. There are moving anecdotes too about Meir’s early role as an ambassador in Moscow and the effect her actions had on the Jewish community there, but much of the rest is a rather wearisome history lesson that neither engages nor inspires.