[NEohioPAL] "'Golda's Balcony' gripping" Silver shines at Actors' Summit

[Thackaberr at aol.com]

'Golda's  Balcony' gripping story  
Actress  persuaded to take role, delivers forceful performance  
By  Kerry Clawson 
Beacon Journal  
Published  on Tuesday, Apr  01, 2008  
It's a good thing Neil Thackaberry is  persistent. The Actors' Summit 
director worked for two years to talk actress  Dorothy Silver into performing the 
role of the legendary Golda Meir in  Golda's Balcony, which couldn't be a more 
natural fit for the esteemed  Jewish, Northeast Ohio actress.  
Plenty of hard work, skill and talent  have gone into Silver making the role 
of Israel's prime minister seem so natural  in this gripping one-woman show. 
In the hands of a lesser actress, the  95-minute, intermissionless piece would 
be grueling. In a talk-back session  after the show, Silver said she lived 
with William Gibson's script once a day  for several months to absorb Meir's 
essence before rehearsals started.   
Co-directed by her husband, Reuben, and  Thackaberry, Silver creates an 
emotionally forceful character in a dark, thick  wig as her scratchy-voiced Meir 
looks back on her life's work, culminating in  the darkest days of her political 
career. Golda's Balcony is pegged to  Meir's turning point as prime minister: 
the difficult decisions she faced in her  effort to save Israel during the 
Yom Kippur War of 1974.   
Golda's Balcony flashes back and forth to show Meir's evolution as a  
political figure. That includes her childhood days surviving the Russian  pogroms, 
her political awakening in Denver and Milwaukee, her Zionist work in  Palestine, 
and her various political offices once the Israeli state was  established.  
Through Silver's fine-tuned  characterization, we see the history of the 
Jewish state unfold through the eyes  of a remarkable leader who helped create it. 
Silver has said that for the play  to work, Meir's strength and utter 
devotion to her work must come alive.   
Her Meir is deeply serious, dryly funny  and highly driven. Through the force 
of Silver's emotion, there is no question  that Meir's singular goal is the 
redemption of the human race through the  preservation of the Jewish state.  
That mission came at a personal  sacrifice for Meir, whose marriage to Morris 
Meyerson crumbled.   
The play takes place on a simple stage  with a distressed-looking backdrop 
and two screens that look like blackboards  illuminating historical photos from 
Meir's life. Those visuals, essential to the  show, aren't nearly as fancy as 
the high-tech, sweeping images in the 2005 tour  that starred Valerie Harper. 
But they do justice to Gibson's work.   
Golda's Balcony premiered on Broadway in 2003, starring Tovah  Feldshuh. 
Dramatic tension pervades Gibson's piece — updated from a failed  version in the 
1970s — as Meir sits on a devastating Israeli secret: the  existence of an und
erground nuclear reactor at Dimona. After Israel is invaded,  Meir must decide 
whether Israel should use its nuclear weapons against Egypt and  Syria, 
possibly setting off a worldwide chain reaction.   
Due to time, director Thackaberry has  trimmed a very telling anecdote 
revealing that Meir knew the Egyptians might  attack directly through her own 
daughter's kibbutz, but didn't warn her daughter  for national security reasons. 
This scene adds a different dimension to Meir's  larger-than-life character that 
some might not find admirable.   
Gibson's show title, Golda's Balcony, symbolizes two emotionally dramatic 
balconies in Meir's life — with one  vista representing joy, hope and a new 
beginning, and the other symbolizing  military might, war and destruction.  
The play's well-balanced tug of war  between themes of idealism and survival 
is not only a perfect metaphor for Meir  as a person, but also makes Zionist 
history come alive in an intimate  way. 
  
____________________________________

Staff writer Kerry Clawson may be reached by e-mail at 
_kclawson at thebeaconjournal.com_ (mailto:kclawson at thebeaconjournal.com) . See her theater  blog at 
_http://kerryclawson.wordpress.com_ (http://kerryclawson.wordpress.com/) .   
It's a good thing Neil Thackaberry  is persistent. The Actors' Summit 
director worked for two years to talk actress  Dorothy Silver into performing the 
role of the legendary Golda Meir in  Golda's Balcony, which couldn't be a more 
natural fit for the esteemed  Jewish, Northeast Ohio actress. 
Plenty of hard work, skill and  talent have gone into Silver making the role 
of Israel's prime minister seem so  natural in this gripping one-woman show. 
In the hands of a lesser actress, the  95-minute, intermissionless piece would 
be grueling. In a talk-back session  after the show, Silver said she lived 
with William Gibson's script once a day  for several months to absorb Meir's 
essence before rehearsals  started. 
Co-directed by her husband, Reuben,  and Thackaberry, Silver creates an 
emotionally forceful character in a dark,  thick wig as her scratchy-voiced Meir 
looks back on her life's work, culminating  in the darkest days of her political 
career. Golda's Balcony is pegged to  Meir's turning point as prime minister: 
the difficult decisions she faced in her  effort to save Israel during the 
Yom Kippur War of 1974. 
Golda's Balcony flashes back and forth to show  Meir's evolution as a 
political figure. That includes her childhood days  surviving the Russian pogroms, 
her political awakening in Denver and Milwaukee,  her Zionist work in Palestine, 
and her various political offices once the  Israeli state was established. 
Through Silver's fine-tuned  characterization, we see the history of the 
Jewish state unfold through the eyes  of a remarkable leader who helped create it. 
Silver has said that for the play  to work, Meir's strength and utter 
devotion to her work must come  alive. 
Her Meir is deeply serious, dryly  funny and highly driven. Through the force 
of Silver's emotion, there is no  question that Meir's singular goal is the 
redemption of the human race through  the preservation of the Jewish state. 
That mission came at a personal  sacrifice for Meir, whose marriage to Morris 
Meyerson  crumbled. 
The play takes place on a simple  stage with a distressed-looking backdrop 
and two screens that look like  blackboards illuminating historical photos from 
Meir's life. Those visuals,  essential to the show, aren't nearly as fancy as 
the high-tech, sweeping images  in the 2005 tour that starred Valerie Harper. 
But they do justice to Gibson's  work. 
Golda's Balcony premiered on Broadway in 2003,  starring Tovah Feldshuh. 
Dramatic tension pervades Gibson's piece — updated from  a failed version in the 
1970s — as Meir sits on a devastating Israeli secret:  the existence of an 
underground nuclear reactor at Dimona. After Israel is  invaded, Meir must decide 
whether Israel should use its nuclear weapons against  Egypt and Syria, 
possibly setting off a worldwide chain  reaction. 
Due to time, director Thackaberry  has trimmed a very telling anecdote 
revealing that Meir knew the Egyptians might  attack directly through her own 
daughter's kibbutz, but didn't warn her daughter  for national security reasons. 
This scene adds a different dimension to Meir's  larger-than-life character that 
some might not find  admirable. 
Gibson's show title, Golda's  Balcony, symbolizes two emotionally dramatic 
balconies in Meir's life — with  one vista representing joy, hope and a new 
beginning, and the other symbolizing  military might, war and destruction. 
The play's well-balanced tug of war  between themes of idealism and survival 
is not only a perfect metaphor for Meir  as a person, but also makes Zionist 
history come alive in an intimate  way. 
  
____________________________________

Staff writer Kerry Clawson may be  reached by e-mail at 
_kclawson at thebeaconjournal.com_ (mailto:kclawson at thebeaconjournal.com) . See  her theater blog at 
_http://kerryclawson.wordpress.com_ (http://kerryclawson.wordpress.com/) . 




**************Create a Home Theater Like the Pros. Watch the video on AOL 
Home.      
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