Truly moving theatre
I thought I'd post a wee blog entry from my personal perspective. I saw Mairi Phillips perform My Name Is Rachel Corrie last night and was blown away. This is Mairi's debut one-woman show at the Citizens Theatre and what a debut!
Irrelevant of your political opinion, the fact that this play is made up entirely of Rachel's own words taken from journals, emails, web postings, answer-machine messages and letters, can't fail to move you. An incredibly articulate person, Rachel's words are frequently prophetic, often witty and always heartfelt. This brilliant portrait of a young girl and its account of a painful conflict is well worth watching.
This is also Ros Philips' Directorial debut at the Citizens and in the challenging space of the Stalls Studio, with an audience on two sides, Ros more than excels.
My Name Is Rachel Corrie is on until 20 March and is selling fast...bring tissues!
Hx
See more photos on Flickr.
Irrelevant of your political opinion, the fact that this play is made up entirely of Rachel's own words taken from journals, emails, web postings, answer-machine messages and letters, can't fail to move you. An incredibly articulate person, Rachel's words are frequently prophetic, often witty and always heartfelt. This brilliant portrait of a young girl and its account of a painful conflict is well worth watching.
This is also Ros Philips' Directorial debut at the Citizens and in the challenging space of the Stalls Studio, with an audience on two sides, Ros more than excels.
My Name Is Rachel Corrie is on until 20 March and is selling fast...bring tissues!
Hx
See more photos on Flickr.
Comments
Mairi Phillips brought to director Ros Philips' intimately-crafted set a moving, eloquent and beautifully-delivered account of Rachel's short-life journey, from child idealist to determined activist.
Handling an exquisitely nuanced narrative with great assurance, Philips gives sincere and fascinating vent to Rachel's fragile fears and apprehensions as well as her courageous commitment and passionate resolve.
The performance conveys the very essence of Rachel's proactive politics, driven by a relentless effort to comprehend how such atrocities can be tolerated and ignored by a supposedly 'civilized' world.
Through Rachel's vividly-detailed diary, we also get a powerful sense of the Palestinians' own stoic humanity, illustrated by their kind, selfless caring for Rachel and in their simple longing to live in peace.
In a further illuminating correspondence, she answers her mother's discomfort with Palestinian violence, resulting in Rachel's mature contextual analysis of why a people can be pushed to such desperate forms of retaliation.
The play also registers, in more implicit form, what Israel itself knows and fears: that even the mightiest array of military, political and psychological oppression can never crush that spirit of resistance.
A remarkable production, made all the more timely with the Corrie family's current legal suit against Israel.
John Hilley
(GPHRC)
http://johnhilley.blogspot.com/