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My Name Is Rachel Corrie

Submitted by Colin Morley on Thursday, 11th Nov 2010
TP Rating: 
0
Reviewer: 
Date of Show: 
Wednesday, 3rd November 2010 (All day)
Venue: 
Fortyfivedownstairs

My Name is Rachel Corrie is the powerful story of one person's passionate journey in the global struggle for sense and justice.

 
Conflict between races, nations, peoples, families and even within the individual have dominated world history for centuries.  In each instance, there have been to hand commentators, observers, analysts, researchers and survivors, who have left behind their reasoning, thoughts, theories, feelings and first hand accounts in a complex and interwoven journey of humankind to the present moment.
 
One of the most protracted conflicts of recent history are the well-known and continued hostilities in the Middle East, particularly in the Gaza strip between the Israeli and Palestinian peoples.  The commentator in this instance is Rachel Corrie, a young, idealistic political activist who lived among the Palestinian people in Gaza from 2002 to 2003.  This script is Rachel's own words, drawn from her own diaries, letters and other sources.  It begins with Rachel as a precocious 12 year old girl and finishing with her as a grown woman of 23.  This well constructed script truly takes the audience member on a journey and, standing on it's own, reveals Rachel as not only a very identifiable human being but also as a luminous soul and human being.
 
This production has been immaculately directed and designed.  I particularly appreciated the use of boxes as what I saw as a metaphor for the compartmentalisation of a life, and that each compartment is then in turn part of the construction of that life as a whole.  As boxes were packed up, closed and stored and others then opened to and their contents revealed, we witnessed the progression of this individual from the 12 year old with the messy bedroom floor, the desire to make her world a more beautiful place by gluing pictures to her bedroom wall, making a video diary of herself battling it out with her ceiling and a secret passion for fashion magazines, to the completely aware, resourceful and passionate young woman who still wants to make her world a more beautiful place.
 
This reviewer is a big fan of stylised theatre and enjoyed the use of this constructed box wall as a backdrop for a town in the Gaza strip with effective lighting and projection.
 
With a script that is essentially driven by it's dialogue, it is important above all to maintain a certain pace without losing the intent or intonation of that dialogue.  The direction by Daniel Clarke resulted in a wonderfully balanced and at all times engaging performance for the audience.
 
And finally we come to our star of the night, Hannah Norris in the role of Rachel.  What can I say about this girl aside from the fact that she is a very impressive actor to point of amazing!  She truly captured the essence, vitality, courage and warm humanity of her subject.  As a sole performer, a huge responsibility rests on your shoulders to capture and maintain the focus of your audience .  Hannah held the audience in the palm of her hand (or this audience member at least) for the entirely of the performance.  She explored every emotion and peaked at exactly the critical moment.  She was engaging, endearing and, like her namesake, inspired you to want to make your part of the world a more beautiful place too.
 
This show has a very limited season.  Thank you to fortyfivedownstairs for bringing this remarkable and powerful piece of theatre to Melbourne.  This review is gluing pictures to his bedroom wall as we speak....
State: 
VIC