A Weighty Choice

The opening scene is an accident on a deserted road near Tel Aviv (but could really have been anywhere). A Chinese foreign worker is dead and the dilemma is what to do. Do the 3 occupants of the car who hit the man turn themselves in or leave it as a hit-and-run?

Their egos are much bigger than their consciences and they walk away. The moral dilemma of their decision is somewhat convoluted by a series of affairs going on among the 5 main characters.

Although the police are never involved, by the end of the play all of the principal characters are well aware of each other’s foibles and indiscretions.

It is only the daughter who comes up with something positive to ameliorate the guilt of her parents. She travels to China to inform the dead Chinaman’s family of what has happened to him.

Much of The Accident by Israeli playwright Hillel Mitelpunkt is almost farcical in nature. But the ethical questions posed by what happened on that deserted highway are all too real.

As the four of us rode home from Theater J, we speculated as to how we would have handled such an accident. It's one of those things you hope will never put you to the test.