Review: My Name is Rachel Corrie, Etcetera Theatre

In her very typical-looking college student’s bedroom, complete with a ‘floordrobe’, college student and activist Rachel Corrie (Lyndsey Ruiz) prepares for her upcoming trip to Gaza during the peak of the second intifada. She speaks of college life, family and friends and dances around to Pat Benatar’s ‘Love is a Battlefield’. She exudes an infectious, youthful buoyancy, and aside from her bravery and extraordinary selflessness, is a normal young woman with a messy room and smoking habit. 

20 years after its debut performance, T. Regina Theatre Company have taken on this documentary theatre piece based on American activist Rachel Corrie’s diary entries and emails to the Etcetera Theatre. Painting a picture of Rachel’s vibrant personality, aspirations and beliefs, the play follows her visit to Gaza in 2003 as part of a group of international activists protesting the destruction of Palestinian homes and wells. She lost her life whilst doing this work, murdered by an Israeli soldier.

It’s a smooth production on the whole, directed thoughtfully by Alex Stroming with some inventive staging choices throughout. In this production, it really does feel like we are in the room with Rachel. She is humanised and not just a headline or reference. Credit also goes to the editors: late actor Alan Rickman and Katharine Viner. Occasionally, there are some pacing issues when Ruiz transforms the space for location changes and time shifts whilst songs play for around a minute, disrupting the flow slightly. 

Ismini Papaioannou’s set design supports the show excellently with clear themes. Clothes are a pivotal prop in this play, previously strewn across the floor and refashioned onstage by Ruiz into a shelter which acts as her sleeping area in Gaza. 

This is a challenging show with an emotionally heavy premise. Ruiz delivers a strong, layered performance and captures Rachel’s playful personality, intelligence, wit and, most strikingly, her belief in the goodness of humanity and passion for advocating for a better world. She portrays Rachel’s growing horror and disbelief wonderfully as her diminishing faith in humanity weighs her down, replacing her unwavering optimism. Despite needing a few lines from the tech box, Ruiz gives a commendable performance and reduces her audience to sniffles. Wearing a keffiyeh around her neck in front of the spray-painted words “Free Palestine”, tears rim her eyes as she describes the horror of what she sees every day, her lost hope in the world and the nightmares and never-ending guilt that will accompany her on her return to America. Ruiz’s passion and connection with the material is evident, adding an intensity that really hits home, bringing a heightened urgency to the searing finale, particularly. 

It is a timely revival, no doubt chosen due to current events in Gaza. At the time of writing this review, the people of Gaza are starving and in dire need of aid, following a year and nine months of relentless attacks. No matter the conflicting narratives and opinion pieces drifting around in popular media, it is important to come back to Rachel’s belief system. Every human being deserves and is entitled to food, water, and freedom, at the very least. Her aims and objectives stem from deep compassion and horror at the treatment of the Palestinian people. She believed we are all the same inside. It is something we could all do with reminding ourselves, and if we were all as brave and courageous as Rachel, maybe the world would be a better place. It is heartbreaking yet hopeful, especially right now. T. Regina Theatre Company demonstrates that we cannot forget the people who give everything to help others, and just how relevant Rachel’s story is over 20 years after her death. 

Written by: Rachel Corrie
Edited by: Alan Rickman and Katharine Viner 
Directed by: Alex Stroming
Set & Costume Design by: Ismini Papaioannou

  My Name is Rachel Corrie has concluded its run at the Etcetera Theatre.