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My Name Is Rachel Corrie: Arts Hub Review

By Simon Tate

I walked out of the performance of My Name Is Rachel Corrie tonight with only one word echoing through my mind. Courage. And I wasn’t using it in the placating, feel good way that some infected with political correctness link it with ‘attempt’ when they can’t compliment anything more than effort. I mean courage in the sense of an individual presence standing up against an overwhelming force, and what’s more, I saw it resonate through every aspect of this production.

How much courage does it take to stand under the scrutiny of a one-person show? How much courage is shown by this actor standing alone under the weight of such an incredible story? How much courage is shown staging this beautiful, moving, didactic, political protest piece in a place as removed from its story as Brisbane? How courageous is Brisbane’s second largest theatre company in programming a season dedicated to the new and emerging artists and companies?

Most of all though, how courageous was this young woman called Rachel Corrie who consciously stripped the veils of complacency and ignorance from her own eyes in order to stand up against an injustice she could not understand, but knew in her heart was wrong ?

Rachel Corrie was a young American woman who travelled to Palestine to protest the atrocities perpetrated against Muslims by Israel, regardless of the fact that her own country was backing the Israelis in isolating and destroying Palestinian towns through the subtle application of tanks and bulldozers. After three months documenting her discoveries of violations of Geneva conventions and witnessing hospitality in the face of abject hopelessness, Rachel Corrie was killed when a bulldozer demolished a civilian house.

This piece has the potential to become a diatribe, another generic moment when the ‘enlightened’ world marvel at the ignorance and self-obsession of America as it leaves its clumsy footprints on the faces of middle-eastern countries before a few of its loud and radical citizens suddenly realize the truth and cry protest, but only in the manner at which their foreign policy is enacted. And verbatim theatre no less! A form comprised of letters, emails and diary entries in which the theatrical is subservient to the truth regardless of the fact that this should never get in the way of a good story!

This is however, not the case.

My Name Is Rachel Corrie is a beautiful piece of writing, that doesn’t just shout of the injustices of the world, but balances these with an intensely human story. We see more of Rachel Corrie than her activism – we see her history, her development and perspective, which in itself is artistic. We see her portrayed in three dimensions, we see her motivations and her enlightenment and, through the fantastic performance of Julia Billington, we see the woman herself – her own words a revelation of a real woman’s journey; the past that informs the future, the relationships she had between people, ideologies and her own inner thoughts, desires and perspective. It doesn’t negate the very powerful political message, it humanizes it and through her observations, and takes the audience to the truth of the situation in Gaza seen through the eyes of real, lived experience.

The piece avoids becoming colloquial American through the way that Corrie’s diary entries and letters have been edited and pieced together by Katherine Viner and Alan Rickman to discuss oppression and injustice merely using the Israel/Palestine conflict as an example. It is still too frighteningly easy to see the correlation to similar conflicts around the world and through history from Serbia and Croatia to Australia and its native people. This piece is about oppression and an individual taking a stand against something greater than themselves – not the Israel/Palestine conflict.

Billington lives the role of Rachel Corrie condensed into an hour and a half. It’s more than the fact that she traveled to America to talk to Corrie’s parents and those that were there the eventful day she died – there is an obvious, tangible affinity with this character, or should I say person. Billington has not only found an empathy, but a real connection. You can see her walking through Corrie’s history as herself, recalling her own rebellion, deviantness, artistry, concern and incomprehension. You get the feeling that if she relaxed a little more into this beautiful piece of story-telling we would see possession rather than acting.

The stage design is a simple cascade of black paper, crumpled and falling like rubble across the stage or the burnt pages of the notebooks buried beneath them. The pictures glued to the walls have some relevance in the first scene, but quickly become redundant with the development of Corrie as more than a typical teenager and with luck, fade in the audience’s awareness.

Chris Perren’s sometimes ambient, sometimes very specifically choreographed sound-scape sometimes flows and sometimes jars beneath the action to the point that I’m not sure if it worked or didn’t. The old adage that a sound cue is easy to include but much harder to remove holds true at times. The choice to make the sound a feature at times and underplay the stage action at others isn’t really clear. The lighting stood out among the Spartan production elements seeming a little clunky in its transitions and obvious in its choices, however, you couldn’t say they were poor. It was only because these elements seemed a little disconnected from the narrative, like they were trying to do too much on their own rather than allow the story and performance to control the rhythm of the piece that they stood out.

Director Shane Anthony has shown once again his impeccable skill in working with an actor in excavating multiple layers of a performance and a sense of truth from a text. Throughout the performance I could see how his eye for detail subtly tweaked the moments to slowly reveal this story and character like a triumphant poker player individually laying down each card in a royal flush.

If there was ever an argument for the major companies/venues to support the emerging companies and artists in Brisbane (at least matching the great work for independents undertaken by the underfunded Metro Arts), this show and company are it. LaBoite has shown great foresight in promoting this show which proves that there is so much more depth and potential beyond the main-stage productions in this town.

My Name is Rachel Corrie
Bella Shanley Productions
LaBoite Indie Season
Director: Shane Anthony
Designer: Bruce McKinven
Lighting Design: Jason Glenwright
Composition: Chris Perren
Assistant Director: Robbie O’Brien
With: Julia Billington
Production Manager: Justin Marshman

ABC Radio Interview: Julia and Bella talk about the play…

ABC Radio Interview

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Driver testifies in Corrie case: A bulldozer driver who crushed a US activist in Gaza in 2003 tells Haifa court he can not recall much about day she died.

Pat Benatar VLOG: Julia does Pat!

Pat Benatar VLOG

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FORUM to be held Wednesday 3 November, 8pm

FORUM OVERVIEW
Wednesday 3 November 8pm

My Name is Rachel Corrie is a powerful play that has sparked passionate debate the world over. You are invited to participate in this global discussion. Join our guest speakers on Wednesday 3 November as they discuss the play within its broader context of the Palestinian/Israeli conflict and the current state of peace negotiations in the region. Providing further insight and alternative perspectives to an incredibly complex issue, the Forum promises to be an informative and passionate evening of discussion.

Placing herself between an Israeli Forces bulldozer, and a Palestinian home marked for demolition, Rachel Corrie had faith in humanity. She firmly believed that human compassion would overcome the anguish and complexity of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict in Gaza. She lived, and died for this belief. The events causing her death are disputed. The Israeli Defence Forces claim it was an accident; others claim she was deliberately run over by the bulldozer. She was 23 years old. 

My Name is Rachel Corrie is an internationally acclaimed play, based on the diaries and emails of Rachel Corrie, edited by Katharine Viner and Alan Rickman.

FORUM PANELISTS

David Forde                              President, Amensty International Qld

David Berthold                         Artistic Director, La Boite Theatre Company

David Costello                          Foreign Affairs Editor, Courier Mail

Halim Rane                               Islam Research Centre; Griffith University

Jess Dowdell                             Social Justice Activist and ALP Youth

FORUM TOPICS

OVERVIEW OF CURRENT SITUTATION. AMNESTY’S POSITION

CONTEXTUALISING CURRENT PEACE NEGOTIATIONS.
David Forde leads discussion

AUSTRALIA’S ROLE/POSITION IN INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS IN THE REGION
David Costello leads discussion

When Rachel finally decided that she wanted to go to the Middle East, she explained her reason quite specifically: “I’ve had this underlying need to go to a place and meet people who are on the other end of the portion of my tax money that goes to fund the US and other militaries.”

MEDIAS CONTRIBUTION TO SHAPING PUBLIC OPINION AND IMPACT ON AUSTRALIAN FOREIGN POLICY IN THE REGION

David Costello and Halim Rane lead discussion

AN INDIVIDUAL’S ROLE AND THE ROLE OF ACTIVISM IN THE REGION

Jess Dowdell and David Forde lead discussion

Rachel Corrie found a way to be political in a depoliticised age; she cared passionately for injustice, and unlike many of us, she tried to do something about it. There are few such figures in our commercialised culture. – Katherine Viner

(Rachel’s Parents’) lack of curiosity about the ISM and their wholesale acceptance of its propaganda are startling. They are using their position as bereaved parents to win sympathy for the group most responsible for their daughter’s death. Roberta P. Seid, Commentary Magazine

REACTIONS TO THE PLAY AND ITS THEMES

It has been applauded for being a compelling and passionate personal account, providing insight into incredibly complex territory: “Theatre can’t change the world. But what it can do, when it is this good, is to send us out enriched by other people’s passionate concern.”- The Guardian

It has also been criticised for its naivety and failure to consider the Israeli perspective: It is a highly polemical piece, based on the writings of one idealistic but incompletely-informed young woman… (Rachel Corrie Facts website)

Rachel writes “the vast majority of Palestinians right now, as far as I can tell, are engaging in Gandhian non-violent resistance” — an observation that led Times of London reviewer Clive Davis to write that “Even the late Yassir Arafat might have blushed at that one.”

THE ROLE OF THE ARTS IN HUMANITARIAN EDUCATION/SOCIAL JUSTICE
Discussion lead by David Berthold

…Theatre has no obligation to give a complete picture. Its only duty is to be honest. And what you get is a stunning account of one woman’s passionate response to a particular situation.” Michael Billington:

Ari Roth, director of the Washington DC Jewish Community Center’s Theater J, acknowledges that My Name is Rachel Corrie portrays Israel in an unfavorable light However he says. “So what? Are we big enough to take it artistically? This is not legislation in Congress, this is the diary of a woman who was run over by a bulldozer,” he said. “Should we hear what she had to say? Why not?”

FUTURE DIRECTIONS TOWARDS PEACE IN THE REGION
Open discussion

FORUM DATE
WEDNESDAY 3 NOVEMBER, 8PM – 9.30PM (following the 6.30pm performance).

TICKETS TO FORUM
Tickets to forum are included in the price of the performance ticket, Wednesday 3 November.

Entrance to the forum only (without the performance) is free, but subject to availability.

VENUE
Laboite Theatre Company
Roundhouse Theatre
6-8 Musk Avenue
Kelvin Grove Urban Village

www.laboite.com.au

PERFORMANCE DATES
OCTOBER 27 – NOVEMBER 14 2010
Tuesday and Wednesday 6.30pm
Thursday to Saturday 7.30pm
Sunday:  5pm
Matinees: 11am on Tuesday 2Nov  and Thursday 4 Nov

TICKET PRICES (PERFORMANCE)
Entre to the forum is free. Ticket prices for the performances are below:
Preview Full/Conc:             $25/22
Season Full/Conc:              $28/$25
Under 30:                              $20

BOOKINGS & INFORMATION
For information on dates & bookings:

La Boite: www.laboite.com.au 07 3007 8600

Latest VLOG: Julia on rehearsals.

RC – Post 1st Run BLOG (small)

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