by J. T. Rogers
TORIL GRANDAL
Henny Russell
FINN GRANDAL
T. Ryder Smith
THOR BJORNEVOG
Christopher McHale
TROND GUNDERSEN
Jeb Kreager
AHMED QURIE
Anthony Azizi
HASSAN ASFOUR
Dariush Kashani
SHIMON PERES
Daniel Oreskes
YOSSI BEILIN
Adam Dannheisser
URI SAVIR
Michael Aronov
JOEL SINGER
Joseph Siravo
YAIR HIRSCHFELD
Daniel Oreskes
RON PUNDAK
Daniel Jenkins
AMERICAN DIPLOMAT
Christopher McHale
GERMAN HUSBAND
Jeb Kreager
GERMAN WIFE
Angela Pierce
SWEDISH HOSTESS
Henny Russell
Other parts were played by members of the company.
CHARACTERS
The Norwegians
JOHAN JORGEN HOLST
Foreign Minister; married to Marianne Heiberg
JAN EGELAND
Deputy Foreign Minister
MONA JUUL
Official in the Foreign Ministry; reports to Jan Egeland; married to Terje Larsen
TERJE RØD-LARSEN
Director of the Fafo Institute for Applied Social Sciences; married to Mona Juul
MARIANNE HEIBERG
Executive with the Fafo Institute; works for Terje Larsen; married to Johan Jorgen Holst
TORIL GRANDAL
Housekeeper and cook at the Borregaard Estate outside Oslo; married to Finn
FINN GRANDAL
Groundsman at the Borregaard Estate outside Oslo; married to Toril
THOR BJORNEVOG
Senior officer with the Police Intelligence Service
TROND GUNDERSEN
Officer with the Police Intelligence Service
The Palestinians
AHMED QURIE
Finance Minister for the Palestine
(also known as “Abu Ala”)
Liberation Organization
HASSAN ASFOUR
Official PLO liaison with the Palestinian Delegation at multilateral US-sponsored talks
The Israelis
SHIMON PERES
Foreign Minister
YOSSI BEILIN
Deputy Foreign Minister
URI SAVIR
Director-General of the Foreign Ministry
JOEL SINGER
Legal advisor to the Foreign Ministry; senior law partner for a Washington, DC, firm
YAIR HIRSCHFELD
Senior Professor of Economics at the University of Haifa
RON PUNDAK
Junior Professor of Economics at the University of Haifa
Supporting Roles (played by members of the company)
AMERICAN DIPLOMAT
PALESTINIAN DIPLOMAT
ISRAELI DIPLOMAT
OTHER DIPLOMATS
DELEGATES
JOURNALISTS
PALESTINIAN CITIZENS
ISRAELI CITIZENS
WAITERS
AIRPORT PASSENGERS
GERMAN HUSBAND
GERMAN WIFE
SWEDISH HOSTESS
TIME AND PLACE
April 1992 to September 1993.
Oslo, Norway, and other locations around the world.
NOTES
The use of a slash ( / ) marks the point of overlapping dialogue.
Paragraph breaks mid-speech show where one thought ends and another commences.
Pronunciation should be culturally precise. Throughout, characters pronounce names and places from other countries as those from those other countries do. For example, the Norwegians, Israelis, and Palestinians all pronounce Terje Larsen’s first name as “TIE-yuh.” The one exception to this rule is a specific character who badly mispronounces Larsen’s first name. The only two instances of mispronunciation are noted in the script.
Each act gallops along as one long, unbroken scene—with time and place constantly shifting, events swiveling between cacophony and stillness, and characters slipping back and forth between speaking to each other and to us. Thus in presentation, eschew the lumbering naturalism of “realistic” staging and design. Best to make choices that allow for lightness, rapidity, and theatrical surprise.
Out of the crooked timber of humanity,
no straight thing was ever made.
—Immanuel Kant
ACT ONE
Oslo, Norway. March 1993. Evening.
An elegant flat, mid-dinner. Laughter and champagne. Terje Rød-Larsen, forties, mid-story to his guests: Johan Jorgen Holst, fifties, and his wife, Marianne Heiberg, forties.
LARSEN: It’s all true. I’m not making this up.
I’m sitting there in his office, in Tel Aviv, straight across from him, and before either of us even speak, I realize: it’s not even noon, and he’s drunk.
MARIANNE: No!
HOLST: He’s exaggerating. Terje always embellishes.
LARSEN: Johan Jorgen, his words were completely slurred. I could smell the scotch on his breath!
MARIANNE: Are you saying that Yitzhak Rabin is an alcoholic?
LARSEN: Not at all. Just that he drinks. Heavily.
(Seamlessly back to it) I start to introduce myself—and he cuts me off! Just launches in, about the Israeli Labor Party, as its Chairman; the upcoming elections; platitude, platitude; and then he says:
(As Rabin, in a gravelly voice) “Mr. Larsen, as a French politician, you will understand what I am saying.”
(As himself again) “Excuse me.” I am polite, but firm. “I am a Norwegian and I am not a politician.”
HOLST: Not by a long shot.
MARIANNE: Johan Jorgen, let him talk.
LARSEN: And he goes on, as if I’ve said nothing. And once again: (As Rabin) “As a Frenchman, you will—”
And I completely break protocol.
(Himself, to Rabin) “Listen! I am Norwegian, I run the Fafo Institute in Norway, and I want that to be clear!”
The meeting ends, I leave, and I think to myself: What the fuck is this guy doing running the Israeli Labor Party?
(As Mona Juul, thirties, enters with a fresh bottle of champagne . . .)
MARIANNE: Mona, can you believe Terje said that to Yitzhak Rabin?
MONA: My husband shows no deference to power.
LARSEN: Well, what is a throne but a stool covered in velvet?
MONA: You’ve used that one before.
LARSEN: Have I?
MARIANNE: Yes, / you have. Repeatedly.
HOLST: Many, many / times. Over and over.
LARSEN: The point of this story is this: six months later, Rabin is Prime Minister and I am a fool. Why? Because I saw one side of this man and assumed this meant I knew all of him. Now I tell you all this, not to speak of myself—
HOLST: Well, this is an occasion.
LARSEN: But to speak of you, Johan Jorgen.
Had you been there, you would have seen to the very core of this man. For like Rabin himself, you are a visionary and bold statesman: able to see what others cannot; willing to act when others will not.
Tomorrow you are Foreign Minister, and all of us in this country will be better off under your stewardship.
(Raising his glass) To Johan Jorgen Holst. May your eyes be open to the new as you steer our ship toward uncharted shores.
(They toast. Mona turns to us.)
MONA: To clarify: Johan Jorgen is married to Marianne, who works for Terje, who is married to me, who, as of tomorrow, works for Johan Jorgen. In Norway we take nepotism to an entirely new level.
It’s a very small country and we think and behave as such.
(She is back with them. Larsen has ceded the floor to Holst.)
HOLST: I’ll tell you what I’m not looking forward to: dealing with Warren Christopher.
Mona, have you met him?<
br />
MONA: Not yet.
HOLST: My God, what a wet fish. This is the new US Secretary of State? No wonder the Americans can’t make peace in the Middle East.
LARSEN: Then why don’t you?
HOLST: What, make peace in the Middle East?
LARSEN: Why not?
MARIANNE: Because it’s the Middle East, Terje. They don’t do peace.
LARSEN: Ah, but my friends, look at what is happening in the world: the grip of history is loosening. The Berlin Wall has just fallen; the Soviet Empire, disbanded. My God, if Leningrad can revert to St. Petersburg, anything is possible.
MARIANNE: Terje, if the Americans can’t force the Israelis and Palestinians to make a deal, what chance has Johan Jorgen?
LARSEN: But that’s their problem. The Americans can strong-arm both parties to the table, but just because you drag a horse into a bar does not mean it can mix its own cocktail.
(Holst and Marianne gesture to Mona: “What?”
Mona gestures in response: “Don’t ask.”)
We have what the US can never have: the appearance of neutrality. The Americans flood Israel with foreign aid.
(Cutting Marianne off before she can speak) Which, as you know, I support one thousand percent.
(Back to Holst) But the perception is bias.
HOLST: So now I should take advice from a sociologist.
(To Marianne) Is this what you two are doing at your think tank? Sitting in your offices, funded by my ministry, is this what you’re all saying?
LARSEN: It is what I am saying, Johan Jorgen. Me.
MONA: Terje does have a point.
(Holst and Marianne look at her in surprise.)
We are trusted by both sides. We have always supported Israel and the Palestinian cause, / while maintaining a strict neutrality on the issue of statehood.
HOLST: Mona! The Palestinian cause is led by Arafat and the PLO, who wish to wipe Israel off the map. Are you seriously suggesting Rabin talk peace with the man the Israelis call Hitler in his lair?
LARSEN: Johan Jorgen, you don’t make peace with the people you have dinner parties with. You make peace with the people who bomb your markets and blow up your buses.
MARIANNE: Please, let’s not talk politics. / It’s Johan Jorgen’s last night as a free man.
HOLST (Straight at Larsen): While dinner was superb, / I cannot say the same thing for your ideas. You seem not to realize, Terje, that the job of the Foreign Minister is not to joust with windmills.
LARSEN (Straight at Holst): What are you afraid of, Johan Jorgen? The world is cracking open. All I am saying is to think about new possibilities. Imagine what can be achieved now!
(A phone rings. Larsen and Mona freeze.
The two of them gesture to each other: “They’re early!” “What do we do?”
Holst and Marianne watch in confusion as a second phone starts to ring.
Larsen answers the first phone just as Mona answers the second.)
LARSEN: This is Larsen.
MONA: Good evening.
(First phone to his ear, Larsen looks to Mona; second phone to her ear, she nods.)
LARSEN (Into first phone): Yes, Those Across The Sea are with us. Now, to pick up where we last—
(Mona holds the second phone away from her and whispers in Larsen’s ear.)
(Into the first phone) . . . Just one—hold on, please.
(Larsen switches phones with Mona. He listens to someone on the second phone. Then they switch back. Speaking into the first phone again:)
Those Across the Sea have a message they wish the Son to pass on to the Father.
HOLST: Terje, who are you talking to?
(Terje and Mona gesture silently and wildly: “For God’s sake, be quiet!”)
LARSEN (Into the first phone again): They say they have waited long enough and they must know if the Grandfather is on board.
(He listens to the voice on the other end. It finishes. He gestures for Mona to give him the second phone. He holds both phones now.)
(Into the second phone) The Son wishes me to inform you that it is too early to say the ways of his Grandfather.
(The voice on the line starts screaming. We can’t hear the words, but the rage is volcanic. Larsen throws that phone to Mona, who muffles the shouting with her hand.)
(Back into the first phone) They say that’s fine, no problem, talk soon.
(Larsen and Mona hang up their phones as one.)
HOLST: What the hell was that?
LARSEN: My apologies. I had the time zones wrong, clearly. I thought they were calling much later.
HOLST: Terje. Who were you talking to?
LARSEN (Raising the first phone): The Israeli Government . . .
(Pointing at the second phone) . . . and the PLO.
(Holst and Marianne burst into laughter. Then they stop laughing. They realize that Larsen is serious.)
I was going to tell you before they called. I’m truly sorry.
HOLST: What is this?
What the hell is going on?
LARSEN: I am facilitating secret conversations between the State of Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization. They are meeting, here in Norway, face-to-face, not far from here.
(Silence. Then, cacophony.)
HOLST: Are you mad? / Have you gone completely mad?
MARIANNE: Terje! How could you not tell me?
HOLST: You have / absolutely no authority to do this!
LARSEN: Please, my friends, please!
MARIANNE: I am your partner!
LARSEN: I think associate is the / official title, yes?
MARIANNE: You would risk our entire organization / like this without my involvement?
LARSEN: Actually, my organization. That I founded.
HOLST: Who approved this?!
MONA: I did.
(Holst freezes.)
Paperwork, visas. I arranged everything.
We are in this together.
(He stares at her. She stares back.)
HOLST: Who else in the Ministry knows about this?
MONA: Egeland does.
(Turning to us) Jan Egeland, Deputy Foreign Minister, who I report to, and who, when we were at university . . . it was complicated.
Again, it’s a very small country.
(Holst paces; the others watch.)
HOLST: So. The night before I take office: this is when you deign to tell me there is a ticking bomb in my office. How high up does this go in Israel?
MONA: We’re not sure.
HOLST: But Shimon Peres is behind this, yes?
MONA: We can’t say.
MARIANNE: Well then what do the Americans say?
(Larsen and Mona look at each other. Then . . .)
MONA: They don’t. Know much about it.
(Silence. Then:)
HOLST: Fuck / fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck FUCK!
LARSEN: Johan Jorgen, it’s fine—everything is going to be fine.
HOLST: I forbid this! Do you understand me? / Categorically!
LARSEN: Johan Jorgen—
HOLST: You are a fucking dilettante!
(To Mona) You work for me!
(To them both) And this is over!
A shift.
Terje speaks outward, addressing a packed lecture hall; Mona speaks to us.
LARSEN: In International Relations, most conflicts are negotiated using the model of Totalism. All issues of disagreement are placed on the table; all organizations, representing all sides, are at the table. The rules are rigid, the procedure impersonal, and time and again the results are absolute failure. Thus to facilitate an effective negotiation, you must learn to use the model of Gradualism.
MONA: When I was at university, Terje’s lectures on organizational psychology were always packed.
LARSEN: This new model—my model—is rooted not in the organizational but in the personal. A process of negotiation allowing the most implacable of adversaries to focus on a single issue of contention; resolve it,
then move on to the next single issue; as they gradually build a bond of trust.
MONA: He was my teacher, I was his student. I argued with him, he argued back. Drinks, marriage: the usual.
LARSEN: But hear me: to use this model is not without risk. For when you unleash the personal, the Furies can come out. And once this process begins, there is no going back. Events will move faster and faster, stretching you to the breaking point. But through it all, you must push on. Believing that whatever mistakes are made, whatever unforeseen events your actions unleash, the risks are worth it. Because if you succeed, you will change the world.
MONA: That is what I needed you to hear. Because this idea, this process is what drove everything—everything—we said and did. As you watch, and judge, remember that.
Bodies to and fro on the stage. Mona continues to speak to us.
MONA: Cairo. One year earlier. My first posting overseas. Terje came with me. We threw ourselves into the region, traveling everywhere. But one small country kept drawing us back.
LARSEN: Mona, my God!
MONA: Jerusalem, Tel Aviv.
LARSEN: I love this place!
MONA: The West Bank, Gaza.
LARSEN: I love these people! All of them—they’re so fantastically not Norwegian!
MONA: Gaza was like nothing we had ever seen.
A mere strip of land, hugging the Mediterranean. Physically cut off from the West Bank by Israel itself.
The most densely populated place on earth.
LARSEN: Mona! No one has ever done a proper scientific survey of living conditions here. I can be the one to do this!
MONA: A million Palestinians, most of them without regular electricity or water, crammed into an area twenty-five-miles long and only a few miles wide. A population exploding, with no place to explode.
