Via Dolorosa and When Shall We Live

Fortunately i had the luck to actually see David Hare perform Via Dolorosa on Broadway, not once, but twice this past spring. In fact, I was able to see nearly 30 plays in five months as part of a Duke University program taught in Manhattan. My three favorite straight plays were 1. Amy's View, 2. Death of a Salesman, 3. Via Dolorosa. What I appreciated most about Hare's two plays was his ability to reveal the complexity, stubborness, and nobility, closely bordering stoicism, that pervades the human condition.As an agnostic and an American I was overcome by the honest critique offered by Hare. Here is someone who has wrestled with the moral and ethical dillemas and subsequently infused them into his work. I excuse his humor, because, sometimes things are so horrible all we can do is laugh, and if we cannot, then it is truly a sad thing. Stones or ideas? When shall we live? So what if you don't like all his answers, at least he's raising the right questions.I do not expect, nor do I particularily want Hare to moderate a Palestinian/Isreali debate. What I do want is for him to dig out and contextualize the emotional elements that ground this tragic situation. As a Westerner, I understand how this passion can captivate someone from a culture in desperate need of something to live for besides material wealth. Hare accomplished exactly what he set out to do, and we are in his debt for it.

"Via Dolorosa" is a play in the sense that it has been performed on the stage. Who besides David Hare himself would dare perform it, I can't say. It would take guts. Who would finance such a performance? Anyway, this is an essay for the stage. I thought it very interesting, chiefly because the New York audience drew Isrealis who were enraptured by Hare, sat bolt upright, and reacted with every inch of their souls. This could and should have been done in a lecture hall at the U.N., not B'Way but ... It is a fascinating exploration and almost as interesting as Tony Kushner's play on Afghanistan that opens with a lengthy monologue, riveting, that blossoms into a dull play. Here the monologue ends. Hare spares us the dull play.

Loved it!

Je ne connaissais pas ce dramaturge britannique. J'ai lu ici son monologue, Via Dolorosa, très vivant, formidablement bien écrit, avec le plus grand intérêt, suite à un bref séjour en Israël et en Palestine. Je l'ai lu en parallèle avec l'excellent Jérusalem Terrestre du géographe, Emmanuel Rubin. Les deux auteurs (avec Ari Shavit et son Ma Terre Promise, récemment apparu en français)*, ont tous, chacun de sa" fenêtre", livré leurs visions des enjeux de la bataille tragique qui oppose les uns aux autres pour s'emparer de ce bout de terre devenu symbole entre les symboles. On se met à rêver avec les auteurs que les deux moitiés de la vase brisée pourront un jour se ressouder! La conférence, aussi de David Hare, When Shall We Live, qui suit la pièce, est un merveilleux morceau sur l'épineuse question de la Foi et de ses écueils, d'une actualité certaine. J'ai cherché partout une traduction française pour partager ma découverte mais apparemment cela n'existe pas. Bilingues, à vos plumes!*Pendant que j'en suis aux recommandations: allez voir le documentaire d'Amos Gitai, The Next Day, sur l'assassinat de Yitzak Rabin. Remarquable!.. .