Oslo

J.T. Rogers

• Publisher: Theatre Communications Group
• Year: 2017
• Print ISBN: 9781559365567
• eBook ISBN: 9781559368766
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: American Drama
• Index: Literature

Winner of the 2017 Tony Award for Best Play

 

Winner of the 2017 Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Play

 

Winner of the 2017 New York Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Play

 

"Oslo is a wonderful and moving work that portrays how real diplomacy works. The play shows us what can happen when men and women on opposite sides of what is perceived as an intractable divide strive to create a shared humanity." – Ban Ki-moon, former Secretary-General of the United Nations

 

"A disarmingly funny masterpiece." – Huffington Post

 

"So human and so funny. Oslo is gripping, compelling, and compulsively watchable. This is what we call drama, and it's what we live for. So, go, already—live!" – Variety

 

"The stuff of crackling theater…Oslo is a vivid, thoughtful, and astonishingly lucid account of a byzantine chapter in international politics." – New York Times

 

"Big-boned and gripping." – New York Magazine

 

"A riveting political thriller." – Associated Press

 

"Exhilarating theatrical magic…Oslo makes high drama out of a complex set of negotiations that in any less wizardly hands would be a shallow biopic." – John Guare, Tony Award-winning author of Six Degrees of Separation and The House of Blue Leaves

 

A darkly funny and sweeping new play, Oslo tells the surprising true story of the back-channel talks, unlikely friendships, and quiet heroics that led to the 1993 Oslo Accords between the Israelis and the Palestinians. As he did with such wit and intelligence in Blood and Gifts, J.T. Rogers presents a deeply personal story set against a complex political canvas. Rogers's other plays include The Overwhelming, White People, Madagascar, and he is a co-author of The Great Game: Afghanistan.

 

OSLO

PRODUCTION HISTORY

Oslo was commissioned and given its world premiere in New York City by Lincoln Center Theater (André Bishop, Producing Artistic Director; Adam Siegel, Managing Director; Hattie K. Jutagir, Executive Director of Development and Planning). Performances began June 16, 2016, in the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater. The production then transferred to Broadway at the Vivian Beaumont Theater, beginning performances on March 23, 2017. The director was Bartlett Sher; the sets were designed by Michael Yeargan, the costumes were designed by Catherine Zuber, the lighting was designed by Donald Holder, the sound was designed by Peter John Still, the projections were designed by 59 Productions; the stage manager was Cambra Overend. Throughout, the cast was as follows:

JOHAN JORGEN HOLST	T. Ryder Smith
JAN EGELAND	Daniel Jenkins
MONA JUUL	Jennifer Ehle
TERJE RØD-LARSEN	Jefferson Mays
MARIANNE HEIBERG	Henny Russell
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 pronou...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Foreword
• Introduction
• Oslo
• Acknowledgments
• About the Author