The Royal Court hit My Name is Rachel Corrie is skipping a planned New York run and heading to the West End. The play, based on the words of the American student peace campaigner who lost her life under the wheels of an Israeli bulldozer in Gaza at the age of 23, will run at the West End's Playhouse Theatre. The announcement of the move comes after New York Theater Workshop's decision not to mount the politically-charged play in New York. It will bgin previews on March 28 and officially open on March 30.
My Name is Rachel Corrie, which was nominated for an Olivier Award, is a play composed of Corrie's own writings, which were compiled by Katherine Viner a journalist at The Guardian and Alan Rickman. Rickman directs the play, which premiered at the Royal Court last year. Megan Dodds stars.
New York Theater Workshop was expected to present the play next month, but the show was never officially announced for New York and it is no longer scheduled to happen. According to Viner, writing in
today's Guardian, "The flights for cast and crew had been booked; the production schedule delivered; the press announcement drafted and approved; tickets advertised on the internet." But, she adds, "the political climate, we were told, had changed dramatically since the play was booked."
