First produced in London’s Royal Court Theatre by Alan Rickman in 2005, initially cancelled in New York (no surprises there), My Name is Rachel Corrie has returned to the New Zealand stage after its first season in early 2009. It is a one-woman show based on the diaries and correspondence of Rachel Corrie, an young American activist killed by an Israeli bulldozer while peacefully defending a Palestinian home from destruction in 2003.

Teamed up with director Lara Macgregor, Kate Prior gives a no-holds-barred performance as the exuberant, fiercely compassionate, eloquent Corrie. Prior secures us a direct line into the intimate interior life of a young woman who was on one hand a girlish, awkward, bubbly college student investigating the world in her own lyrical outpourings, and a clear-sighted, intelligent observer mature beyond her years, with an ability to describe what she saw of the realities of life and death in occupied Palestine in unequivocal terms.  

Her emails to her mother and father are wryly honest and particularly moving as she expresses to her loving family – who are at once proud of her and afraid for her (“I’d rather be proud of someone else’s daughter!”) – why she is determined to do what she is doing, and tries to reconcile her life back home with that of the cornered, impoverished Palestinian people with whom she lived during the Second Intifada, and whose quiet dignity and stoicism have humbled her.  

Instead of remaining an observer from the safety of her middle-class America, she refused to pass the buck, planting herself in the midst of a tense conflict on the other side of the world, as a member of the International Solidarity Movement, protecting Palestinian homes from destruction.

Honest, thoughtful, self-deprecating and courageous, Corrie’s outlook is a breath of fresh air in a world of mass-produced confusion and cynicism. But the reason it was an obvious step to turn this woman’s diaries into a play is not merely because of her ‘deviant’ politics, or her contentious death, but because she is a remarkable writer. Following the success of the play, her writings have now been published as a book.

I was overwhelmed by the keen political awareness and humble self-awareness of someone so young and so, well… American. The play has oft been accused of being ‘one-sided’. Good. It’s the side we never hear about. It’s the side whose story rarely sees the light of day and whose actions are always reported out of context by the other ‘side’.

It’s not often we get to see works of a politically controversial nature on the Auckland stage and my hat is off to all those involved in bringing this story to life, which is inspiring and moving and as pertinent today as it was at the time of writing. This month there are so-called peace talks underway in Jerusalem; Corrie’s case has finally been granted what will hopefully be a thorough hearing in Haifa district court (the Israeli army investigation in 2003 was a whitewash).

My Name is Rachel Corrie provides a vivid first-hand view that is essential viewing in dispelling the masticated myth that is dropped into our little tweeting bird mouths by the mainstream media with regard to the Israel-Palestine ‘conflict’.

It’s only on for a week, so hurry up and get your bum on a seat!
_______________________________
For more production details, click on the title above. Go to Home page to see other Reviews, recent Comments and Forum postings (under Chat Back), and News. 

Copyright © in the review belongs to the reviewer

Copyright © in the review belongs to the reviewer

My Name Is Rachel Corrie made me feel white, middle class and guilty. Which I pretty much think is great. It makes a bid to be political, in the obvious and unsubtle fashion of youth, and in these terms it succeeds. I had a little cry.

The piece is built from the diaries and emails of the real life Rachel Corrie, an American student who was killed in Palestine by an Israeli bulldozer whilst working as a peace activist. Originally produced in London under the direction of Alan Rickman, this BATS run is a restaging of a season at The Forge in Christchurch in 2009. 

Solo performer Kate Prior gives an excellent and what must be an exhausting performance. Prior puts every muscle in her face to work and her Rachel Corrie is quirky, vivacious and, at the beginning, a little bit annoying. She is well cast, her exaggerated physicality seems appropriate for this role: a girl who is young, fierce and independent and also pretty ‘alternative’ (read: borderline crazy).

Lara Macgregor’s direction gives Prior a lot to do – she is kept busy with 75 mins of furious and finicky stage business. There is never a dull moment, and what feels at first like an exercise in acting while tidying your bedroom is actually a neatly crafted transition from the exuberant and scattered Rachel who starts the play to the very different character who ends it.

This is, for me, the most elegant feature of the production. Young hyper-irritating Rachel – in her messy bedroom with all her quirky white middle class symbols of identity – strips back, grows up and calms down. The artist postcards are packed away. The frenetic movement stops. The actress takes a seat just left of centre and delivers a compelling and articulate monologue that is really very moving. This moment has power because of the contrast with all that came before.

The production design is retained from the original season at The Forge. Glenn Ashworth’s set, re-designed and built from the original design by Rita Carmody, complements the action well: striking, simple and with a cunning surprise.

Costume (Rita Carmody again) is contemporary casual and does all it needs to, indicating character and adding colour. Josh Major’s lighting design is also colourful, too colourful for my taste (the Green Gobo of the Gaza Strip deserves mention) but if things aren’t subtle at least they’re visible, and the light for the monologue mentioned above was actually beautiful.

We don’t often see challenging political work like this in Wellington. Both the material and its presentation are deserving of an audience. It is a goer. I recommend it.
_______________________________
For more production details, click on the title above. Go to Home page to see other Reviews, recent Comments and Forum postings (under Chat Back), and News. 

Copyright © in the review belongs to the reviewer

The latest offering at The Forge comes with an impressive record of international success and is itself part of a wider crusade for peace and justice in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict (http://www.rachelcorriefoundation.org/site/). First performed in 2005 at the Royal Court in London, the play was at  the centre of a predictable controversy when first attempted in politically sensitive New York, adding to its eventual impact there and all over the world.

Few would argue with the idealism and humanity which inspires it and as verbatim theatre pieced together from the real diaries and e-mails of Rachel herself it is undeniably significant. They trace her early family life in Olympia, Washington (she was born in 1979), her involvement with the International Solidarity Movement and tragic death in 2003 , seeking to protect a Palestinian family home from an Israeli military bulldozer. A short life then, which has nevertheless touched a nerve in a world numbed by the incessant horror of war.

The challenge for a solo performer is daunting and trust between the director, Lara Macgregor, and Kate Prior as Rachel has clearly been at the heart of the performed work, as it establishes an endlessly curious and questing young woman faced with the concentrated madness of destruction in Palestine and the unshakeable dignity and generosity of its impoverished citizens. 

In this role, Kate Prior manages with expressive ease the transition from the humorous  exuberance of her life in Olympia to the gritty understatement of its final phase, and was rewarded on the opening night by warm applause. No mere imitation of Rachel, she is convincing as a living force in a cocoon of real words.

In spite of her performance however, the play did not deeply engage me either politically or as a human story. The ‘talking head’ aspect is a given of course, since the events are framed for solo voice, but somehow the factual record of terrible events, without verbal or visual images to confirm them, do not work well in theatre. Perhaps too the ending did not resonate as I was anticipating though the deadly bulldozer seemed an effective metaphor for the whole tragic situation.

If the play opens wider debate about compassion and tolerance,  it will certainly have rewarded the spirited commitment of Rachel Corrie herself. Meanwhile this production stands as an interesting contribution to the spectrum of challenging work at The Forge.
_______________________________
For more production details, click on the title above. Go to Home page to see other Reviews, recent Comments and Forum postings (under Chat Back), and News. 

Copyright © in the review belongs to the reviewer