Honeypot

Julia
Pascal‘s play is based on the true story of a Swedish woman who took
part in Israel’s operation to hunt down members of the Palestinian
Black September group responsible for the murders of 11 Israeli
athletes during the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich. Unfortunately,
however, Pascal fails to bring the drama and intrigue of that time to
the stage, instead presenting us with a series of scenes whose
repetitive format makes what should be a thrilling plot drag.
Director Orly Rabinyan‘s uninspired staging does nothing to
alleviate the wearyingly slow pace of proceedings.

Honeypot‘s
central problem is that the character of Susanne is entirely
unsympathetic and played by Jessica Claire with an almost unwatchable
awkwardness and self-awareness. Susanne’s motivation for wishing to
help Israel – which Koby only gets out of her late in day – may
be based on the real-life motivation of Pascal’s Swedish source, but
it comes across in the play as fanciful and irrational to the extent
that it is hard to believe that the agency would take such a woman
on.

With
the public’s appetite for espionage stories keener than ever and the
London 2012 Games, and all their accompanying security issues,
fast approaching, the timing of this production is perfect. Sadly,
the same cannot be said for anything else about Honeypot.