Oslo, theatre review: Scrupulously researched political thriller has tense urgency

A three-hour play about diplomacy sounds doomed to be talky and ploddingly worthy. But American playwright J T Rogers has crafted an absorbing mix of historical reconstruction and political thriller, in which world events are viewed from an unfamiliar angle.

He offers an intimate and scrupulously researched account of the secretive negotiations in the early Nineties that sought to achieve peace between Israel and Palestine — and while by his own admission he’s taken a few liberties, the atmosphere feels satisfyingly authentic.

Husband and wife Terje Rød-Larsen and Mona Juul are influential Norwegians, who arrange a ‘back channel’ that makes it possible for Israeli and Palestinian negotiators to meet on neutral ground. At first, suspicion and bravado look likely to thwart fruitful discussion, yet gradually the two sides find they have an affinity — their conversation fuelled by a genuine desire for peace, as well as startling humour and some delicious waffles.

As the whisky and testosterone flow freely, the high-minded Terje becomes a figure of fun. We learn that he’s so refined he gets mistaken for a Frenchman, and Toby Stephens makes him wonderfully contradictory — slippery, charming, generous and naive. Meanwhile the excellent Lydia Leonard’s Mona is the efficient, elegant orchestrator who keeps the diplomatic process running and neatly delivers bulletins to the audience.

In a fine cast, Peter Polycarpou impresses as the genial but tough Palestinian finance minister Ahmed Qurie, and Philip Arditti has an outrageous swagger as sleek Israeli representative Uri Savir, looking as if he might at any moment shimmy off to the nearest nightclub.

Director Bartlett Sher succeeds in making diplomacy seem richly theatrical. Some of the rapid scene changes and bursts of sweary shouting are unsubtle, but as the stakes rise there’s a tense urgency. The result is an intricate and in the end moving vision of the ways the personal qualities of individuals can shape world events — and of the importance of acknowledging shared humanity.

Oslo plays at the National Theatre until Sept 23, then transfers to the Harold Pinter Theatre, SW1, running Oct 2 to December 30; nationaltheatre.org.uk