Their handshake sealed an agreement that had been negotiated in secret over the previous nine months in Oslo through the intervention of idealistic Norwegian Terje Rød-Larsen and his more pragmatic wife Mona Juul.
JT Rogers’ intriguing play delivers a forensic account of the protracted negotiations that led to the Oslo Accords, highlighting the colourful personalities involved and the endless arguments that threatened to detonate the talks.
Part history lesson, part dramatised record of events, it stops just short of being a fully realised play but it is never less than engaging.
Toby Stephens invests Rød-Larsen with the anonymous complexity of a well-meaning, slightly naive political dilettante.
Lydia Leonard’s Mona is both loyal and stern and anchors the talks, and her husband, in reality.
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As Palestinian finance minister Ahmed Qurei (Peter Polycarpou) battles it out with Israeli representatives Yossi Beilin (Jacob Krichefski) and the flamboyant Uri Savir (Philip Arditti), the stakes rise in a political poker game that involves a lot of bluffing and shouting as well as moments of humour and humanity.
Tension is maintained even though we know the outcome.
Oslo is at its weakest when it descends into clichéd mutual accusation, barely scratching the surface of a complex situation.
However it is admirably even-handed and clearly written from the heart.
OSLO – National Theatre, until September 23, then Harold Pinter Theatre, October 2 – December 30.
Tickets: 020 7452 3000