Madison — Rachel Corrie is supposed to be a martyr because she died for a cause she believed in.
But martyrdom often entails naiveté. To become a martyr, one must deny any and all logic belonging to the other side, because if there is an element of uncertainty, no one would be able to go through with the self sacrifice.
Both these traits are portrayed in the one-person play “My Name is Rachel Corrie,” which was constructed from Corrie’s diaries and e-mails dating from childhood until her death in Gaza on March 16, 2003.
The play debuted in Madison on March 7 at the Orpheum Theatre, after which her parents, Cindy and Craig Corrie, participated in a talk back with the audience.
The Madison performance is not a local product. The show’s producer and actress, in an effort to remain anonymous, are presenting the show under the name “Vital Links.”
A line in the program reads, “The producer, director, actress and crew have chosen to remain anonymous to keep the focus of the play on Rachel Corrie….”
Corrie, an aspiring writer, died just one month short of her 24th birthday when she tried to prevent an Israeli bulldozer from tearing down a Palestinian home on the Egypt border. Israel said the bulldozer was trying to destroy tunnels used to smuggle weapons to the Palestinians from Egypt.
When Corrie died, her parents felt a “need to get her words out,” Cindy Corrie said after the play. “The reason for that was they had such a powerful impact on our family.”
After being published in newspapers and Web sites, Corrie’s words were turned into the controversial play by British actor Alan Rickman and journalist Katharine Viner. The show debuted in London in 2005.
Seeking a cause
It becomes evident in the play that Corrie did not doubt the virtue of the Palestinians nor the malice of the Israelis. But those certainties didn’t arise from years of research and following the conflict.
They surfaced in a girl that wanted to be passionate about something; and protecting the Palestinians was consistent with her political liberalism and convenient in providing a highly controversial issue to fight for.
For an Israeli or a Palestinian, it’s easy to become a dedicated advocate of one side and a fervent opponent of the other. However, Rachel Corrie was neither of these, and grew up, as her mother confirmed, with no allegiance or connection to either side.
This background, coupled with several irrational surmises in the hour-and-a-half long monologue, makes it seem that she decided to side with the Palestinians because it was the liberal thing to do.
Corrie had the best intentions. She saw people living in poor conditions and decided she would dedicate her life to helping them.
Corrie did not, however, examine both sides of the situation before she dove in.
One line in the play sums up her tendency to become involved in situations she didn’t entirely understand. Corrie reads part of an e-mail that she received from her worried mother:
“I feel like it would be easy for you to be manipulated by one faction or another.” Her overeager nature seemed to value blind heroism over knowledge of a situation.
Of the Israelis that destroy Palestinian homes, Corrie says, “Many are forced to be here, many are just aggressive.” This presumptuous assertion is another of the many examples in the play that illustrate how Corrie mentally constructed a clear villain and victim out of a situation that is much more complicated.
From a theatrical perspective, “My Name is Rachel Corrie” is everything a one-person show should be: provocative and impassioned.
Actress Brittany Jordt, whose name was revealed by the producer because “she did such a good job” is both endearing and riveting as Corrie.
The play is divided into two parts: Corrie’s life in Olympia, Wash., as a student at Evergreen State College and Corrie’s experience in Gaza.
The first part shows who Corrie was as a person. Self-proclaimed as “scattered and defiant and too loud” with “a fire in my belly,” Corrie revealed that she was an aspiring writer, a leftist idealist and a political activist working with many groups on the margins of society such as the mentally ill.
The second half centers on Corrie’s impressions of Gaza. Corrie was housed by several Palestinian families during her stay there.
She is clearly moved by the conflict and the people she becomes involved with. Corrie cites experiences at checkpoints and objects to the Palestinians’ poor living conditions.
She wonders why people believe the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is a “balanced conflict” when a few unarmed Palestinians are pitted against a powerful army, and makes statements such as, “What we’re paying for here is truly evil.”
While the play is quick to demonize Israel and paint the Palestinians in the most pitiful manner possible, it never discusses the facts surrounding the conflict, therefore serving as propaganda rather than a convincing argument.
After the show, Jordt, the producer and Corrie’s parents spoke to the audience.
Before Jordt was cast as Corrie, she knew nothing of Corrie or the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, she said.
The sold-out audience of some 200 people, about two-thirds of which stayed for the talk back, asked Craig and Cindy Corrie about the aftermath of Corrie’s death.
The Corries and the producer maintain that Rachel’s death was murder even though the Israeli government said it was an accident because the driver couldn’t see her. They said they are dissatisfied with Israel’s investigation, claiming it is inaccurate and inconsistent at many points.
Said the producer: “There needs to be an investigation and there’s not going to be an investigation unless we all get involved…. I want to forgive but I feel like I can’t forgive until there’s an admission of what happened.”
Craig Corrie added that he and his wife have initiated a lawsuit in Israel. “We’re still going forward trying to get as much information as we can,” he said.
The Madison performance of the play and associated events were sponsored by the Madison-Rafah Sister City Project, Brit Tzedek: The Jewish Voice for Peace-Madison Chapter and the UW Middle East Studies Department. The final Madison performances are March 14 and 15 at The Overture Center.
Former Chronicle intern Kiera Wiatrak is a junior at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
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