Jordan Wright
April 4, 2014
Special to The Alexandria Times
(L to R) Ron Rifkin as Menachem Begin, Richard Thomas as Jimmy Carter and Khaled Nabawy as Anwar Sadat – Photo by Teresa Wood.
Theater history was made Thursday night at Arena Stage’s premiere of Camp David when former U. S. President Jimmy Carter and his wife, Rosalynn Carter, were in attendance. Little known is the fact that it has taken thirty years for TV Producer and former White House Communications Director in the Carter administration, Gerald Rafshoon, to convince Carter to give his permission to do this play.
Mideast History 101 – In September of 1978 Menachem Begin, Prime Minister of Israel, Anwar Sadat, President of Egypt, and Jimmy Carter met at Camp David, the presidential retreat in Maryland’s scenic Catoctin Mountains. For thirteen harrowing and contentious days and nights as the world waited with bated breath, the three men attempted to iron out a treaty to bring peace to the Middle East. It is important to note that the Camp David Accords have stood the test of time.
Camp David is playwright Lawrence Wright’s fictionalization of this historic meeting – an intellectual struggle for power wrapped in a clash of egos. A fourth character is present among the men, that of Rosalynn Carter (Hallie Foote) – – an important figure in the construct who brings Southern charm and levity to the play’s riveting tension.
(L to R) Hallie Foote as Rosalynn Carter and Ron Rifkin as Menachem Begin – Photo by Teresa Wood.
The production opens with a graphic video reminder of the four wars that raged between Egypt and Israel within a 30-year time frame. Using a combination of news footage and photos to depict the horrors of those wars and their subsequent effect on our oil prices as a result of Mid-East conflicts, serves to remind us of our investment in peace and stability in this tumultuous region.
Richard Thomas plays Carter. Thomas may perhaps, be best known for his long-running role as John-Boy in The Waltons. Since those days he has performed in dozens of film and television roles as a dramatic actor and can currently be seen on the much-acclaimed FX series The Americans. Thomas’ Carter is a spot on depiction of the folksy, homespun Southern politician with the instincts of a Coonhound treeing a possum. (Carter has since revealed that before the talks he had studied a weighty briefing on both Begin’s and Sadat’s personalities.) He was savvy enough to know when to press them and when to back off.
Richard Thomas as Jimmy Carter – Photo by Teresa Wood.
Director Molly Smith shows a stroke of brilliance by casting one of Egypt’s leading actors, Khaled Nabawy, as Sadat. Nabawy plays him with a high-minded and sophisticated air. “Whatever you decide I will sign,” Sadat says agreeably. “I am flexible on everything except land and sovereignty.” Sadat has brought along a copy of the United Nations Security Council Resolution 242 that had been agreed to and signed in 1967. It called for Israel to retreat from occupied lands, compensate for lost properties, return natural resources, grant access to holy places, terminate Arab boycotts and sign a treaty on non-proliferation. Begin tears it in half. Carter insists he stick to it as the basis for their talks.
Begin (Ron Rifkin) proves to be as intransigent as a mule, quibbling over formalities and procedural points like a schoolboy. He doesn’t trust Carter or Sadat. “You have a way of turning words upside down,” Carter accuses him. But Begin is a tough negotiator, there to represent his people’s interests. “One third of all the Jews in the world were annihilated in my generation,” he says. And as each man calls out to his own God, Muslim, Jewish and Christian, for advice and succor, Carter reminds them, “The future doesn’t have to be like the past.”
Hallie Foote as Rosalynn Carter, Richard Thomas as Jimmy Carter and Khaled Nabawy as Anwar Sadat with Will Beckstrom and Will Hayes – Photo by Teresa Wood.
Set Designer Walt Spangler uses old-growth trees in a mountain setting with a rustic cottage off to one side. A drop section in the stage floor changes the scene, alternating between patio chairs and log-hewn garden benches, keeping the focus on the actors and the constantly shifting dynamics, while Lighting Designer Pat Collins uses sunrises and sunsets helps us to count the days.
Highly recommended.
Through May 4th at Arena Stage, 1101 Sixth St., SE, Washington, DC 20024. For tickets and information on performance times and dates call 202 488-3300 or visit www.ArenaStage.org.
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