Oslo at PTC

I made several different plans to see Oslo, the Tony Award winning play opening the 2018-2019 season at PTC, but they all fell through for one reason or another.  I finally had the chance to see it last night with my friend (we both have rush passes) and I thought it was absolutely brilliant.  I wish that I had time to see it again.  It tells the behind-the-scenes story of how the Oslo Accords, the first ever agreement between Israel and the PLO in 1993, came to be.  Terje Rod-Larsen (Jeff Talbott), the Executive Director of the Fafo Institute, and his wife Mona Juul (Kate Middleton), an official in the Norwegian Foreign Ministry, witness a riot while traveling through the Gaza Strip in Israel.  Terje is forever changed by the incident and, believing that the current model of negotiation will never work, decides to get low-level representatives from the PLO, Ahmed Qurie (Demosthenes Chrysan) and Hassan Asfour (Thamer Jendoubi), and Israel, Yair Hirschfeld (Neal Benari) and Ron Pundak (Max Woertendyke), to meet in secret in Oslo.  He believes that if they get to know each other as men they will learn to trust each other and this provides a bit of comic relief.  The story details the back and forth between the two groups as they work towards peace and it does involve lots of dialogue rather than action.  As a former world geography teacher I pay close attention to world events, especially in the Middle East, so it was really easy for me to follow what was happening but my friend found it very compelling, as well.  The pacing kept me engaged (although I thought it was over before the second intermission) and the actors give outstanding performances.  I also really liked the staging, which is minimal to allow for quick transformations.  I highly recommend this production which runs through next week (tickets may be purchased here).