Theater Review `Via Dolorosa' In his one-man Broadway show, British playwright David Hare confronts the fractious Middle East. 175 MERRILL STREET • BIRMINGHAM, MI 248-644-6506 • FAX 248-644-3632 David Hai e: 90-minute monologue on what ails the ProMiseel:Land. Complimentary Valet Pal-king Available at the Townsend Hotel Entrance for our Bakery Customers Exclusively! The Gem Century Theatres Gem Theatre ASK ABOUT HALF-PRICE SHOWS! it t pas(nt LOVE YOU, YOU'RE PERFECT, NOW CHANGE The Hit Musical Comedy "CUTE CAST, FUN SHOW" * * * - Lawrence Define, Detroit Free Press THE SMASH HIT MUSICAL SPOOF OF THE MOVIES! 'CRITIC'S CHOICE' Los Angeles Times If GRAND OPENING APRIL 14, 1999! I -3.13( .963. 9800 3:33 Maths°, vire. 'Dtroit, MI 48226 CENTURY ) *(di -\1")1( rTroulm of 1.5 or ► u)ly .3/3) 962-2913. ( 4/23 1999 DETROIT'S PREMIER THEATRE LOCATION. 90 Detroit Jewish News arram, (248) 645-6666 CURT SCHLEIER Special to The Jewish. News I o begin: Via Dolorosa is not a play. It is a magazine arti- cle read by its Christian author, David Hare, a trav- elogue that might have appeared in the old Saturday Review. It is spoken artfully, is excellently staged and on the surface appears fair and balanced. But it is just reportage, not drama, and ultimately bad reportage at that. In 1997, Hare — who's conquered Broadway in the past year with The Blue Room starring Nicole Kidman, The Judas Kiss with Liam Neeson and Amy's View, which just opened with the Oscar-win- ning Dame Judi Dench — made his first trip to the Middle East, at the behest of an international theater organization. He was one of three playwrights (a second was Israeli and the third Palestinian) selected to write about rule under the British Mandate. Once there, Hare, 51, decided that writing about the current situation was more interesting that delving into history. So he did what any good journalist visiting Israel and the West Bank would do. He interviewed people on both Curt Schleier writes about the arts fi-om his home in New Jersey sides. The play reveals he is an intrepid reporter. During the course of the play, he visits, and assumes the personas, of a series of apparently extremely literate Israelis and Palestinians — 33 in all — who provide him with great quotes. A religious Israeli says the Six-Day War changed things. Jews seized lands and became "concerned with more than ideas," and that was "profoundly un-Jewish." A Palestinian excoriates Arafat for corruption, remarking that "there are more Palestinians in prison under Arafat than there ever were under the Israelis." An Israeli suggests that all the terri- tories should be turned over to the Palestinians, and that the Israelis should just "stand back and watch them f--- it up." But, ultimately, and although he says plenty to offend all sides, Hare just doesn't get it. He reports what Benny Begin, son of the former prime minister and a spokesman for the settlers, tells him in Jerusalem: "Most of what happened in Jewish history happened within 20 miles of here. This is where our kings ruled, our judges judged, our prophets prophesied." In describing their com- mitment, settlers compare Memorial Day in Israel, where a siren blows and everyone stands still for two minutes,