Review of “My name is Rachel Corrie”

On Friday I saw, “My name is Rachel Corrie” which was put on by Bread and Waters theater. I thought it was very well acted and kept my interest the whole way through. It was a one women play with recordings of Rachel Corrie's parents played occasionally for her to respond to. It was based on her writings which were published after she was killed by an Israeli operated bulldozer while trying to stop the demolition of a Palestinian home.

It tracked her life from when she was a child to when she was killed by the Israeli operated bulldozer. It gave a glimpse into what was going on inside her and how it developed in order to compel her to go to Gaza and help this abused population. Through her dialog the the audience was able to see the rich relationships that developed between her and the people of Gaza that she was trying to help. I appreciated that the Palestinians truly got to be humanized in this play. I find there is too much dehumanizing of them in in the mainstream media.

The play also allowed the audience to experience through her eyes the hell on earth the Palestinians of Gaza have to endure under the control of the Israeli army. The checkpoints and the curfews imposed by the Israeli army that put Palestinians under house arrest for sometimes several days where they can't leave there house to go to work, shop, or see family. The constant fear that their homes are going to be demolished as a form of collective punishment. The sporadic firing into there homes. She talked about one family that could not use one or two of their rooms because sporadic gun fire would come into them. Also, the Israeli tanks that Palestinian were constantly coming in contact with and were being threatened by. The Israeli soldiers that when she was doing her solidarity work would shoot in her direction and close to her even though she was clearly unarmed and not a physical threat . The various restrictions that are put on the Palestinians to strangle them economically.

I hope I was accurate in my portrayal of this play. I was watching this through the eyes of someone who has learned about this issue over the last couple years. In some cases from what former Israelis have written and in some other cases from what Israelis still living in Israel have written. So I may have added some information that was not in the play without knowing. When all is said and done I am grateful that Bread and Water Theater brought this play to Rochester