(Posted May 27, 2009)

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Much has been made of how difficult it is for theater to dramatize complex contemporary events. And there's been plenty of ink - and computer bytes - used to bemoan how few plays seem to capture 9/11 and the forces that led to it and from it.

But A.R. Gurney's 2003 O JERUSALEM - which GroundWorks Theatre has wisely trusted to the capable hands of director Melissa Bedinger Hade - is one of the stronger attempts to make theater out of the recent real-life drama that was shaped by and continues to shape US-Middle East relations.

Perhaps that's because its absurdist structure keeps the play from being too precious or pretentious. Perhaps its Arab-infused perspective offers a different way of looking at the situation than many Americans are used to viewing. Or maybe it's just that the very talented author of THE DINING ROOM and LOVE LETTERS knows how to make us take the characters he creates to heart.

It's 2001, and oil man Hartwell Clark (Jim Wright) is itching to change careers as fellow Yalie George W. Bush takes office. He manages to get a State Department post that puts him in the thick of the Middle East (or, as the State Department calls it, the Near East) quagmire.

He's reunited with an old flame from his student days in Lebanon, Amira (Terry Occhiogrosso), a Palestinian whose Hamas-aligned son has a warning about a major attack on American soil.

The play could be quite ponderous except for the humorous way the story is "edited" by the actors, its sense of irreverence toward institutions and nation-states and its 90-minute running time. And it would also be a burden if Hade had cast or directed poorly.

Happily - and unsurprisingly given her track record with such productions as WHO LOVES JUDAS? and THE DRESSER - Hade has done neither of those things. Her well-placed cast gives specific, detailed, emotionally charged performances.

Caroline Davis as Hartwell's long-suffering friend Sally is as always an assured and strong presence; Pat Rulon and Dan Millard shape their multiple roles clearly and convincingly; and Jim Wright, who I had the pleasure of directing 11 years ago in a production of David Hare's SKYLIGHT, slips so comfortably into the skin of his exec-turned-crusader that one feels he was born to it.

The heart of this troupe is Occhiogrosso. Amira's conflicted soul, her anguish and her anger, sears us and reminds us so poignantly that there are individuals behind the headlines that arrive daily from the troubled Holy Land. It's a truly remarkable performance.

The simple set, with Hade's background projections telling the time and place of each scene, sounds just the right note of contrast for this appropriately off-kilter tale. Daryl Pike and Allison Richards' lighting works so well in shifting place and mood that you notice what it lights and not the lighting itself, unlike many modern productions; and Lynn Bowden's sound design underscores the story and never intrudes on it.

Subsequent events like the invasion of Iraq and a change in US political leadership make O JERUSALEM seem further in the past than it actually is, but the questions and problems it poses remain unanswered. GroundWorks Theatre's marvelous production refreshes our memory of 2001 while provoking us to consider who we are now and where we may go in the future.