With the proverbial 3 a.m. phone call at the center of Hillary Clinton's campaign ads, it seems worth a look back 35 years to when Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir—no shrinking violet herself—was literally phone-in-hand at 3 a.m., weighing a decision on nuclear war.
In "Golda's Balcony," the one-woman show receiving a cogent and seductively forceful production at Pegasus Players, a global disaster just barely averted during the 1973 Yom Kippur War is the point around which William Gibson's script pivots.
But really, this is the story of Meir, whose flaws—stubbornness and brash expressiveness—were as much the keys to her success as anything else. She arrives on stage, cigarette in hand, and announces: "I'm old." And from this perspective—about a year before her death in 1978—she offers a hopscotching biography that is meant to dispel the image of "mamala Golda making chicken soup for her soldiers." As she says with characteristic bluntness: "At the bottom of the pot is blood."
And in the hands of actress Janet Ulrich Brooks and director Alex Levy, she is a study in contrasts. Even the set from Tom Burch fits this dichotomy, a homey-looking kitchen ensconced in front of what appears to be the Western Wall. It's a potent image, of modern life jostling with ancient stones.
Brooks plays Meir as an exhausted spitfire, sexless in manner and dress, but passionate in every other way. They didn't call her the "Iron Lady" for nothing, but—and this is key—she is no castrating shrew. Borscht Belt punch lines abound; when Henry Kissinger lays out his priorities, first as an American, second as secretary of state and lastly as a Jew, Meir responds, "That's fine—we read right to left." Holding up a gift she received while in office: "A silver dove, from my boyfriend the pope."
In 2003, Tovah Feldshuh—under pounds of makeup and prosthetics—earned a Tony for her performance in the Broadway production. Brooks takes a different approach, and though she is physically too young, she inhabits Meir's personality with a sense of purpose and deep feeling shaped by years of accumulated experience. Monologue shows always hinge on a single question: Is this a person you want to spend 90 minutes with? Brooks' accomplishment here is that she leaves no room for dissent.
"Golda's Balcony"
When: Through June 15
Where: 1145 W. Wilson Ave.,
in the O'Rourke Center at Truman College
Running time: 1 hour, 30 minutes
Tickets: $17-$25 at 773-878-9761 or www.pegasus players.org
