‘Vancouver to mount contentious play’
From the Globe and Mail last week:
VANCOUVER - Does the “theatre” that seems to surround the Alan Rickman/Katharine Viner play My Name Is Rachel Corrie dwarf the actual drama?
With the play condemned by some protesters as being a one-sided portrayal of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, in North America the answer is often yes.
While the play, which dramatizes the writings of the 23-year-old American peace activist crushed to death by an Israeli bulldozer in 2003, was a hit at London’s Royal Court theatre when it made its debut in April, 2005, it was cancelled by the New York Theatre workshop the following spring because of the concerns of Jewish groups.
It was also cancelled last year at Toronto’s CanStage after alleged pressure from some board members. During a run at the Seattle Repertory Theatre last spring, pro-Israeli groups condemned the play as “anti-Semitic” and started a protest website called Rachel Corrie Facts. And at a recent staging in Montreal, protesters dropped leaflets containing photos of the “other Rachels” - images of Israeli women named Rachel who had been killed by suicide bombers.
But in Vancouver, it seems, the show will go on, and on Sunday a forum of Palestinian, Jewish and Canadian speakers discussed the play. Neworld Theatre, which is co-producing My Name Is Rachel Corrie with Montreal’s Teesri Duniya Theatre, actually signed a deal with the Havana Theatre, where the play opens on Friday, stating that it would not cancel the performance. More…
