Oslo

At the webpage of The Norwegian Theatre the following, among other things, is written about Oslo:

"This is the story of how conversation, compromise, trust and faith in one's abilities, can change history. At least for a while. During some months in 1993, little Norway and the married couple Mona Juul and Terje Rød-Larsen became central players in a political game, resulting in a historical peace treaty between Israel and Palestine, the so-called Oslo Peace Accords. This work resulted in The Nobel Peace Prize for the political leaders of Israel and Palestine the next year. Peach didn't last long, but still, it was the seed of a hope it is possible to reach through by talking together.

Peace as 'goods for export'

It's also a story of how a small country like Norway got the role of international peace broker, and became the centre of negotiations in one of the most irreconcilable conflicts after World War II. September 13 the same autumn, the historical Oslo Peace Accord was signed in Washington. This contributed to establishing Norway as an important international player, with peace as 'goods for export'.

The people behind

The play Oslo wants to show the people behind the negotiations, how to meet at different levels and show different aspects of one's personality, despite representing two different parties in a fixed political conflict. Playwright J. T. Rogers thinks that the story has all a playwright could wish for: The performers are under pressure, it is dramatic, emotional and about historically important decisions. The Oslo negotiations used new methods, building on trust between the parties and informal meetings. The involved in the secret process were few. Among the Norwegians, Mona Juul, an employee of The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and her husband, Terje Rød Larsen, political scientist working for Fafo (TheNorwegian Institute for Applied Social Science), were central players.

The background for the Oslo Accord

From January 1993, Norway had facilitated a series of informal meetings between Israeli authorities and Palestinian Liberalisation Organization (PLO) in Norway, through what was referred to as the Oslo channel. The negotiations between the Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin and the PLO chairman Yasir Arafat (or rather, representatives of the two, Sceneweb's comment) took place in secret at different locations in Eastern Norway, after the collapse of similar attempts in Madrid and Washington."

SOURCE:

The Norwegian Theatre, www.detnorsketeatret.no, 27.09.17, https://www.detnorsketeatret.no/framsyningar/oslo/