My Name Is Rachel Corrie

This show has now closed, click here for a listing of current and future London shows

Play Closed 21 May 2006

Playhouse Theatre Northumberland Avenue, London

Why did a 23-year-old woman leave her comfortable American life to stand between a bulldozer and a Palestinian home? The short life and sudden death of Rachel Corrie, and the words she left behind.

My Name Is Rachel Corrie explores Rachel's evolution into a young woman who cared passionately about the injustices she saw around her, and was determined to make a change.

Megan Dodds reprises her critically acclaimed role as 'Rachel Corrie' for this West End transfer.

My Name Is Rachel Corrie, directed by Alan Rickman, was originally seen at The Royal Court Theatre's Upstairs Theatre in April 2005 before it transferred to the larger Downstairs Theatre for a limited run in October 2005. The play was developed by Alan Rickman and Katherine Viner in collaboration with the Royal Court International Department with the kind permission of Rachel Corrie's family.

"My Name is Rachel Corrie is a powerful, thought-provoking and deeply moving piece of theatre... vividly brought to life by an astonishing solo performance by Megan Dodds" The Daily Telegraph

"My Name is Rachel Corrie is a true and profoundly moving story. As a piece of theatre, it belongs to verbatim genre, pieced together by Alan Rickman and the journalist Katherine Viner from the diaries, e-mails and lists of extremely articulate, committed, courageous idealist Rachel Corrie... This drama is many things. It's a piece about growing up in America today, it's a piece about the nature of heroism; it's a beautifully written and structured chronicle of a death of a foretold, which Rickman directs with great skill... Inspirational." The Mail on Sunday

"Alan Rickman's direction of the piece hits the right note again and again" The Independent

"Rachel Corrie, a 23-year-old American who was killed by an Israeli bulldozer as she tried to prevent the demolition of Palestinian houses in Gaza was frank, witty and feverishly imaginative. And it's this that makes Alan Rickman's and Katherine Viner's dramatisation of extracts from her e-mails and diaries by and large so compelling." The Sunday Telegraph

"Edited by Alan Rickman and Katherine Viner from Rachel Corrie's journals and e-mails, it is a cry of indignation by a brave, thoughtful woman who wanted to help and to bear witness. Shw wasn't some airhead, a saintly, self-admiring maniac: she had faith and purpose... Alan Rickman directs with dispassionate clarity, and Megan Dodds plays Rachel Corrie with a buring, selfless intelligence." The Sunday Times

"Alan Rickman's production of My Name Is Rachel Corrie is an achingly personal one-woman performance... Corrie's diaries show she was both a typical American teenager and extraordinary at the same time, with a strong streak of inherited idealism. Alan Rickman and his collaborator, Katherine Viner, extract much sparky humour from her descriptions of her studies, her voluntary work and her affectionate but somewhat puzzled relationship with her perents... Megan Dodds superbly darkens the mood as Rachel finds a focus for her idealism, and a brutal test for her courage, among the Palestinians of Gaza." The Independent on Sunday

Alan Rickman on devising the play My Name is Rachel Corrie: "I first read Rachel's emails in The Guardian in March 2003. They were so vibrant that they kind of demanded to be said out loud. I took them to Ian Rickson [the Artistic Director of The Royal Court Theatre] which then lead to a meeting with Rachel's parents, Elyse Dodgson and Katharine Viner. Ian took a big brave jump and said 'alright, I'll do it'. Almost a year later, we got the 187 page document which contained many of Rachel's journals, letters and poems which had been typed up very bravely by Rachel's sister Sarah Corrie... My biggest challenge was that Rachel's words were not written to be staged. We had to create a kind of narrative and progression so that you could feel her mind alive and changing and growing. This also involved using the acting skills of Megan Dodds, and the luck of all sorts of gifts, such as suddenly hearing for the first time that Rachel had a very beautiful singing voice."