Reviews
The Law of Return:
The Frederick Gazette
"Spy thriller is gripping theater"
by MARY ELLEN MITCHELL
July 20, 2005
Bethesda native Martin Blank has brought a rare treat to theater lovers with "The Law of Return."
The original spy thriller tells the true crime story of Jonathan Jay Pollard, a United States Naval intelligence analyst who from his office in Suitland, Maryland provided classified documents to Israel.
The story is gripping as most spy tales are, but having it take place in the metro area makes it even more thrilling. We have heard of the building he worked in, the street he lived on, the Beltway traffic that frustrated him. We even know Pollard; he could be the geek next door who works for the Federal government.
Pollard worked in the Navy Anti-Terrorist Alert Center in the 1980s. Blank hints at Pollard's early impressions of anti-Semitism from a high school trip to Auschwitz.
The setting is 1984, when Pollard gives in to his sympathies and begins to share classified documents with an Israeli. Once found out, Pollard leads police on a wild chase through Dupont Circle in D.C., desperately hoping he can get to the Embassy of Israel and seek asylum. The climatic ending of the play is set at the Embassy gates.
"The Law of Return" is told in a no-nonsense style and does not try to persuade the audience. The facts need no embellishment and make for a fascinating story on their own.
Add to this a simple stage, well-chosen words, and a talented cast and you have a night of theater not soon forgotten. It is easy to imagine this story on Broadway or the silver screen.
Three actors tell the tale.
Mikael Johnson, a Frederick native, portrays Pollard. Because Blank presents such an impartial picture of the man, audiences may also find themselves torn between their feelings for the character.
Commander Steve Harris, Pollard's boss, is depicted with intensity by actor Anthony van Eyck, whose credits span film, television, and stage.
Harris is a compellation of individuals in the military that interacted with Pollard. In order to simplify the story, Blank has taken factual encounters and made Commander Harris one side of a delicately balanced triangle of loyalty, patriotism and opportunity. The audience is never allowed to like van Eyck's character, since he exudes superiority. He barks out orders and is easily frustrated, although sometimes charmed, by Pollard.
The real treat in this talented trio is Allan Kulakow, who portrays Rafi Eitan, a Jewish freedom fighter credited with the capture of Nazi Adolf Eichmann after World War II.
His portrayal is so natural, so captivating, that if he were truly Rafi, you would be tempted. His voice is mesmerizing and his accent believable maybe even real.
Much like Harris, Rafi is a compilation of the people that handled Pollard, although in truth they did meet one time.
"The Law of Return" refers to the law stating that any Jew who presents himself at the embassy seeking asylum must be automatically taken in. Pollard's attempt to evoke this law went awry.
He has spent the past twenty years in jail.
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