Rachel Corrie Silenced in NY
Theatre that creates political controversy has often used the “verbatim” process of late. I find this intriguing. I wonder if this is a response to the overwhelming onslaught of media reports today, when one can hardly ever go back to the original source and ascertain what shade is true and what is just a shade of fiction.
What’s it all about? You know. Life, the universe, everything. This thought flicks through my mind, relatively often. I have never been able to answer it satisfactorily. However, I believe Rachel Corrie had a real go at it. She died believing she was defending disadvantaged people’s lives. Her words echo on perhaps more powerfully after her death.
I remember reading some of her letters in 2003 in the Guardian and was moved.
“World majnoon?” I thought.
Tom Stoppard may argue that free speech is not a right. However, even those who believe she died protecting smuggling tunnels are poorer for not hearing her words played out. To silence Rachel Corrie is to make the world a poorer place.
New York Theatre Workshop decides to postpone indefinitely a staging of “My Name is Rachel Corrie” presumably due to political pressure.
See Guardian here, Nation article here, site on Rachel Corrie here and here. There are also several blog opinions, eg here.
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About me
I'm a playwright and investment analyst. I have a broad range of interests: food, gardening, innovation & intellectual property, sustainability, architecture & design, writing and the arts. I sit on the board of Talawa Theatre Company and advise a CIS investment trust on socially responsible investments.
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Recent Work
Recent plays include, for theatre: Nakamitsu, Yellow Gentlemen, Lost in Peru, Lemon Love. For radio: Places in Between (R4), Patent Breaking Life Saving (WS).
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Nakamitsu
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Yellow Gentlemen
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