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Golda's Balcony: A Play
The rise of Golda Meir from impoverished Russian schoolgirl to Prime Minister of Israel is one of the most amazing stories of the 20th century. Now her life has been transformed into a one-woman play of overwhelming power and triumph by William Gibson, author of The Miracle Worker . Golda's Balcony earned actress Tovah Feldshuh a 2003 Drama Desk award.
“Enlightening ... Now, hearing from someone who was there at the birth of the country, who sacrificed to make that happen, helps remind us where the Middle East standoff came from and why it never seems to end.”
– The New York Times
“A valentine to the famously tough prime minister.”
– New York Post
“Enlightening ... Now, hearing from someone who was there at the birth of the country, who sacrificed to make that happen, helps remind us where the Middle East standoff came from and why it never seems to end.”
– The New York Times
“A valentine to the famously tough prime minister.”
– New York Post
82 pages, Paperback
First published December 31, 1978
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About the author
William Gibson
33 books34 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
William Gibson was a Tony Award-winning American playwright and novelist. He graduated from the City College of New York in 1938.
Gibson's most famous play is The Miracle Worker (1959), the story of Helen Keller's childhood education, which won him the Tony Award for Best Play after he adapted it from his original 1957 telefilm script. He adapted the work again for the 1962 film version, receiving an Academy Award nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay; the same actresses who previously had won Tony Awards for their performances in the stage version, Anne Bancroft and Patty Duke, received Academy Awards for the film version as well.
William Gibson was a Tony Award-winning American playwright and novelist. He graduated from the City College of New York in 1938.
Gibson's most famous play is The Miracle Worker (1959), the story of Helen Keller's childhood education, which won him the Tony Award for Best Play after he adapted it from his original 1957 telefilm script. He adapted the work again for the 1962 film version, receiving an Academy Award nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay; the same actresses who previously had won Tony Awards for their performances in the stage version, Anne Bancroft and Patty Duke, received Academy Awards for the film version as well.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
November 3, 2022
William Gibson's play depicts Israel's fourth prime minister, Golda Meir, in her late 70s, looking back on a long, extraordinary life. She's shown to us warts and all, with qualities of tenacity and rigor that some would call gutsy determination (as, for example, when she convinces her boss David Ben-Gurion to let her travel to America to raise money for the then-nascent State of Israel) and that others would call pigheaded willfulness (pushing her husband to live on a kibbutz and, later, abandoning him in favor of her political career). He gives us a tough and wise old bird in Golda, and there's real electricity when she talks about the genesis, after the Holocaust, of this new Jewish homeland in the middle of the desert: the realization of a dream that quickly turned nightmarish when the armies of Israel's five Arab neighbors went on the offensive and, for decades, never really stopped.
In recounting all of this, Gibson help us understand how, against the odds, this ever happened; we watch--informed, as we must be, by the events of fifty years that have occurred after Golda's Balcony takes place--and we are grateful for the understanding that this history lesson yields. The story of this little old lady from Kiev who became an American immigrant and then a founding mother of Israel makes the politics and the ideology clear and human.
The play, a one-woman show, teems with incident and characters. We meet members of Golda's family, famous personages she worked with (or against) like Moshe Dayan and Henry Kissinger, and anonymous people who reminded her of the importance of her calling, like the children of Concentration Camp survivors who became Israel's first new citizens after World War II.
I'm not equipped to assess the accuracy or objectivity of Gibson's account of Meir's life; I suspect that it's largely correct, and as already noted, the play's ability to illuminate the Zionist impulses that led to the founding of Israel is impressive and valuable. But we know how the story will go on--bloodily, endlessly violently--in the years after Golda retired. We have learned--one hopes--to see all the sides of this wondrous story: not just the miracle of a nation created literally from dust in the middle of an arid desert, but also the tragedy of displaced peoples and festering hatreds. The central crisis in Golda's Balcony is whether or not Israel will use its secret atomic weapons against its hostile Arab neighbors during the Yom Kippur War. Meir bluffs and Kissinger blinks, or so the story goes here; later, Golda tells us that while she herself could not order the use of the Bomb, she stepped down from her leadership post in part to allow others who could give that order to do so.
Is this a heroic figure? The world was so much simpler when I, as a kid, simply could unquestioningly regard Meir and her beleaguered nation as plucky and righteous. The best thing about Golda's Balcony--and it may be entirely unintentional, I don't know--is that it trips up that quaint viewpoint, making us question everything that once seemed clear-cut in the murky fog of geopolitics.
In recounting all of this, Gibson help us understand how, against the odds, this ever happened; we watch--informed, as we must be, by the events of fifty years that have occurred after Golda's Balcony takes place--and we are grateful for the understanding that this history lesson yields. The story of this little old lady from Kiev who became an American immigrant and then a founding mother of Israel makes the politics and the ideology clear and human.
The play, a one-woman show, teems with incident and characters. We meet members of Golda's family, famous personages she worked with (or against) like Moshe Dayan and Henry Kissinger, and anonymous people who reminded her of the importance of her calling, like the children of Concentration Camp survivors who became Israel's first new citizens after World War II.
I'm not equipped to assess the accuracy or objectivity of Gibson's account of Meir's life; I suspect that it's largely correct, and as already noted, the play's ability to illuminate the Zionist impulses that led to the founding of Israel is impressive and valuable. But we know how the story will go on--bloodily, endlessly violently--in the years after Golda retired. We have learned--one hopes--to see all the sides of this wondrous story: not just the miracle of a nation created literally from dust in the middle of an arid desert, but also the tragedy of displaced peoples and festering hatreds. The central crisis in Golda's Balcony is whether or not Israel will use its secret atomic weapons against its hostile Arab neighbors during the Yom Kippur War. Meir bluffs and Kissinger blinks, or so the story goes here; later, Golda tells us that while she herself could not order the use of the Bomb, she stepped down from her leadership post in part to allow others who could give that order to do so.
Is this a heroic figure? The world was so much simpler when I, as a kid, simply could unquestioningly regard Meir and her beleaguered nation as plucky and righteous. The best thing about Golda's Balcony--and it may be entirely unintentional, I don't know--is that it trips up that quaint viewpoint, making us question everything that once seemed clear-cut in the murky fog of geopolitics.
December 4, 2020
I'm not often moved to tears while reading, but this one did the trick.
Gibson has penned a powerful, gripping account of the life of Golda Meir. The force of her personality, her humor, and her tenacity come across clearly. The heart-in-mouth 1973 war, and what it meant for Golda and the nation, comes across in a punch in the gut.
Plays don't usually 'read well' and need to be seen to be appreciated. "Golda's Balcony" is unusual in that its power comes across in both media.
Gibson has penned a powerful, gripping account of the life of Golda Meir. The force of her personality, her humor, and her tenacity come across clearly. The heart-in-mouth 1973 war, and what it meant for Golda and the nation, comes across in a punch in the gut.
Plays don't usually 'read well' and need to be seen to be appreciated. "Golda's Balcony" is unusual in that its power comes across in both media.
August 29, 2019
Did this play go through a name change? I swear I read the playbook for this but it was simply called "Golda" at the time. I made a note of it in my journal in early 1988 and mentioned that it was by W. Gibson, so I know I've got the write play/author. Anyway, a fascinating look at the rise of a fascinating woman.
January 5, 2013
I read this monolog mostly because I wanted to see how the one-person play was put together, but also because Golda Meir's life was one I knew little about. I probably should rate the short play higher, because I did learn about her life, and the central idea, that when idealism meets power people often die, was interesting. But the words on the page did not come alive for me. Perhaps a live performance would have touched me, but the script did not.
March 5, 2015
incredible history
I read this after Bibi Netanyahu's speech to the U.S. Congress. An incredible history play that provides a companion piece to Mr. Netanyahu's oratory.
I read this after Bibi Netanyahu's speech to the U.S. Congress. An incredible history play that provides a companion piece to Mr. Netanyahu's oratory.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews